Overview
- Stewart makes her feature directing debut with a script she wrote, adapting Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir about trauma, addiction, competitive swimming and creative recovery.
- The film expands its Cannes 2025 momentum into release with broadly positive reviews, including a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes reported by USA TODAY.
- Imogen Poots leads the cast as the central figure, with supporting roles for Thora Birch and Jim Belushi.
- Critics describe a daring, non-linear style shot to evoke 16mm, with rapid-cut editing and overlapping sound that favors emotional truth over conventional plot.
- Stewart says the project took nearly a decade as backers doubted its dark, unconventional approach, and she frames the film as a “call to arms” addressing industry gatekeeping of women’s stories.