Nyad is a 2023 American biographical sports drama film about swimmer Diana Nyad's multiple attempts in the early 2010s to swim the Straits of Florida. It is directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (in their feature narrative film directorial debut) and written by Julia Cox, based on Nyad's 2015 memoir Find a Way. It stars Annette Bening as Nyad, with Jodie Foster and Rhys Ifans.
Nyad premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2023. Following its premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, it was released in select theaters on October 20, 2023, then streamed on Netflix on November 3. Nyad received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for the performances of Bening and Foster who both received nominations for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively, at the 96th Academy Awards, 81st Golden Globe Awards, and the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Plot In 2010, sixty-year-old Diana Nyad resolves to accomplish the one thing that has eluded her—a 110-mile nonstop swim from Cuba to Florida, which she unsuccessfully attempted thirty years prior. She appoints her best friend and former partner, Bonnie Stoll, to train her. Despite public skepticism because of her age, Diana relocates to Key West with Bonnie for her training and hires navigator John Bartlett to accompany her on her swim. In lieu of a shark cage, Diana opts to swim with a Shark Shield, a shark repellant electronic device.
In August 2011, Diana makes her first attempt at swimming the Florida Straits since 1978. However, an allergic reaction to painkillers, combined with unfavorable ocean currents pushing her off course, forces her to quit early. On her second attempt a month later, she gets stung by box jellyfish. The lead medic jumps in to save her, but he is also ensnared by the jellyfish and has to be rescued. A shot is administered to Diana for the venom, but she insists on continuing to swim with her injury. After some initial resistance, Bonnie and John oblige her, but Diana gets stung again and briefly loses consciousness. She is resuscitated on the boat.
Diana recovers in a hospital, where Bonnie expresses her worry to Diana about the severity of the dangers and warns her she is letting her personal dream overtake the safety of the boat crew. Diana pleads for another try and consults with a box jellyfish expert, who gives her a specially designed protective suit. Diana's swims and training are interspersed with flashbacks that show her upbringing and her sexual abuse at the hands of her childhood swimming coach, Jack Nelson.
In August 2012, Diana makes another attempt, despite warnings from John about bad weather conditions. A thunderstorm breaks out during Diana's swim and John's boat starts to flood. Bonnie calls for Diana to abort the mission despite Diana's pleas to keep going. Back on land, Diana refuses to admit defeat and plans for another try, prompting a fight between her and Bonnie. Bonnie calls out Diana's self-centeredness and laments how she has put aside her own dreams just to support Diana, before quitting as trainer.
Some time later, Diana calls John and apologizes for her behavior. John accepts the apology but admits he can't do another run because of more pressing concerns, including financial stability. Diana visits Bonnie and the two reconcile. Bonnie informs Diana that Nelson died, and the news compels Diana to reflect on her trauma. Bonnie later decides to train Diana again after realizing the closeness of their bond. John also returns as navigator; he discloses to Bonnie that he is in ill health and wants one last opportunity to see what Diana can do.
Diana begins her fifth attempt on August 31, 2013; this time she is helped by more favorable currents. Danger arises when a shark approaches and the Shark Shield is not properly functioning. Assistants from the boat's crew jump in the water in time to ward off the shark, which swims away. Hours later, Diana's body is showing signs of exhaustion. She has hallucinatory visions of the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz and the Taj Mahal. To help motivate her, Bonnie jumps into the water and implores Diana to give it one last push. When the coastline of Key West is in sight, the crew excitedly informs Diana that they are getting closer.
On September 2, Diana makes it to the shore of Key West, where hordes of spectators and fans are gathered to watch. She emerges from the water and gradually ascends onto the beach, prompting celebrations from the crowd. Asked by the press to speak, Diana says she wants to say three things: "One, never, ever give up. Two, you're never too old to chase your dreams. And three, it may look like a solitary sport…but it takes a team."
Cast Annette Bening as Diana Nyad Anna Harriette Pittman as Diana, age 14 Jodie Foster as Bonnie Stoll Rhys Ifans as John Bartlett Karly Rothenberg as Dee Brady Jeena Yi as Angel Yanagihara Luke Cosgrove as Luke Tipple Eric T. Miller as Jack Nelson Garland Scott as Jon Rose
Production Development In January 2022, it was announced that Netflix would distribute the film. In March 2022, it was announced that production was underway. Filming mostly took place in the Dominican Republic, including in a water tank at Pinewood Studios.
Music
Release Nyad had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2023. It had its international premiere on September 12, at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in select theaters on October 20, 2023, then streamed on Netflix on November 3.
Reception
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Richard Roeper called the film a "rousing biopic" and stated: "When Bening and Foster are onscreen together, it’s movie magic. They don’t just have chemistry; they’re chemistry professors." Siddhant Adlakha of Mashable wrote, "It's a movie in which age is both obstacle and strength, and it allows Bening and Foster to play their ages gracefully, as actresses in their sixties. Whatever it struggles to say about bravery in the face of wounds from decades past, it manages to say tenfold about the way its characters choose to live now. Nyad builds to exuberant emotional crescendos that feel straight out of the schmaltzy Hollywood biopic playbook, but these scenes transcend cliché thanks to the emotionally resonant performances at their core." He critiqued the handling of the abuse plot line as "narratively misplaced", but said "thanks to [the film's] unyielding focus on physical strain and suffering — it's the aquatic Passion of the Christ — it maintains enough stakes and sporadic intensity to get by". Writing for The New York Times, Amy Nicholson said Bening and Foster's scenes together "capture decades of camaraderie in effortless shorthand".
Writing for Vulture, Alison Willmore praised how the film eschews biopic conventions of making the protagonist likable, as well as Bening's commitment to the role and physical transformation. She said, "Despite that dedication, there’s a hollowness to the way the film characterizes its protagonist, which means Bening’s performance never fully resonates", adding "we never see any of that or much of what [Diana's] life is like outside of training at all". Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com wrote, "There's a thornier, messier, much more provocative story to be told here, so it's frustrating the filmmakers opt for easy inspiration instead." She noted how the film curiously skips over Nyad's history of embellishment, but praised the acting in particular, saying "it’s a joy to watch Foster dig into this kind of amusing and meaty role once more. Bonnie is the one person who will call Diana out on her obnoxious behavior—at least until Rhys Ifans arrives later as the no-nonsense captain of the boat that cruises alongside Diana during troubled try after try." Lemire concluded Nyad "might not be the greatest film about…achievement, but it’s sufficiently entertaining".
Rex Reed called it "a movie of uncommon exhilaration" that "resonates long after the final frame," and highly praised the performances of Bening and Foster. Peter Travers said Bening's performance is "body-and-soul acting at its peak", and referred to Foster as "an exuberant blast", continuing: "Their teamwork is a thing of beauty." Leonard Maltin named Nyad as one of his favorite films of 2023: "Nyad is a compelling biopic that could have been bland, or didactic, or dull. Instead, in the hands of documentary filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, with a smart script by Julia Cox, it soars. One of this year's great pleasures was watching Annette Bening and Jodie Foster together, inhabiting their characters so completely that it didn't seem like acting at all. I would also nominate Rhys Ifans for Best Supporting Actor."
Accolades Award / Film Festival Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref The Queerties February 28, 2023 Next Big Thing NYAD Mill Valley Film Festival October 16, 2023 Variety Screenwriters to Watch Julia Cox Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 15, 2023 Original Score — Feature Film Alexandre Desplat Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards December 10, 2023 Best Supporting Actress Jodie Foster Chicago Film Critics Association December 12, 2023 Best Supporting Actress Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association December 12, 2023 Best Supporting Actress Women Film Critics Circle December 18, 2023 Best Actress Annette Bening Best Supporting Actress Jodie Foster Best Equality of the Sexes NYAD Best Screen Couple Annette Bening & Jodie Foster San Diego Film Critics Society December 19, 2023 Best Supporting Actress Jodie Foster Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards December 19, 2023 Best Actress Annette Bening Alliance of Women Film Journalists January 3, 2024 Grand Dame for Defying Ageism Jodie Foster Annette Bening Most Daring Performance Golden Globe Awards January 7, 2024 Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Best Supporting Actress Jodie Foster San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle January 9, 2024 Best Supporting Actress Columbus Film Critics Association January 9, 2024 Best Supporting Performance San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle January 9, 2024 Best Supporting Actress Critics' Choice Awards January 14, 2024 Best Supporting Actress AARP Movies for Grownups Awards January 17, 2024 Best Supporting Actress Best Actress Annette Bening Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild February 18, 2024 Best Contemporary Make-Up in a Feature-Length Motion Picture Felicity Bowring, Ann Maree Hurley, Julie Hewett, Mahar Lessner Best Contemporary Hair Styling in a Feature-Length Motion Picture Daniel Curet, Vanessa Columbo, Enzo Angileri, Darlene Brumfeld Costume Designers Guild Awards February 21, 2024 Excellence in Contemporary Film Kelli Jones Visual Effects Society Awards February 21, 2024 Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature Jake Braver, Fiona Campbell, Westgate R., Christopher White, Mohsen Mousavi, Dann Tarmy Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature Korbinian Meier, Sindy Saalfeld, David Michielsen, Andreas Vrhovsek Screen Actors Guild Awards February 24, 2024 Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Annette Bening Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Jodie Foster Academy Awards March 10, 2024 Best Actress Annette Bening Best Supporting Actress Jodie Foster Writers Guild of America Awards April 14, 2024 Best Adapted Screenplay Julia Cox GLAAD Media Awards May 11, 2024 Outstanding Film – Streaming or TV NYAD Cinema for Peace awards February 19, 2025 Dove for Women’s Empowerment NYAD
Historical accuracy Ratification and record controversies