Movie: Nyad
Running Times: 2:00
Nominated for: Actress, Supporting Actress
How I watched: Netflix
When it had me: Annette Bening
When it lost me: I wondered how accurate it was
What systems does it challenge: Self limitation, abuse
Annette Bening embodied this passionate and sometimes insane character of Diana Nyad in such a stunning and somehow effortless manner. Nyad seeks the impossible swim with a faith that is inspiring and uplifting and also with a tenacity that sometimes feels sad and terrifying. I WANT her to make it AND I WANT her to stop!
That creates a really great tension in this film for both the viewer and for her foil character, Bonnie, played by Jodie Foster, who is also nominated. When your friend is a rabid, highly motivated visionary, what is the best way to support them? What counts as support and what becomes dangerous enabling?
I appreciated how the film wove into its narrative the abuse Nyad suffered at the hands of her childhood swim coach. In her loneliest, most sensory deprived moments these memories literally emerge from the depths and demand her attention. Its poetic and real. Survivors of abuse are often labeled as too much. They feel too much, "dwell on the past" too much, react too strongly and are labeled irrational. I want to be done with the era of dismissing women as crazy and embrace finding out where their mania comes from.
Also? Can we normalize a little bit of mania? Because Annette Bening and Jodie Foster gave us mania that is cute as hell and I wouldn't change it a bit.
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