This is an Austrian-set television movie from roughly 1 year ago and has nothing to do with the 2007 film "Freischwimmer" starring Frederik Lau. The film's director is very experienced and the two writers have worked together on quite a few projects as well and this paid off here. The core story is about a (sometimes too involved) teacher who is new at a school and she runs into trouble when she has an Islamic female student who refuses to wear a swimsuit due to her religion. All in all, this is a pretty solid movie. There are no moments of greatness, but there are no really bad moments either. I could have done without the romantic storyline between the teacher and the girl's brother, but it's not entirely bad either. Also, pay attention to how the title refers to both female protagonists in this movie, one of them actually and one of them metaphorically.
The lead actress is Austrian, don't be confused by her British name and I felt she looked a bit like Anna Kendrick at times. The ending is expected, but that's not a problem here either. I liked how the swimmers won only silver in the end and not gold. This film managed nicely not to go over the top. There are a couple nice details about this movie. Actually, I learned a couple new things about the religion of Islam, but I also liked how they made the possible illegality of the girl's swim suit an issue. One thing that could have been better initially is that basically all students in her class were exactly the same and against her. Maybe some more differentiating would not have hurt. However, this is also fixed near the end when the girl seems to have a pretty good relationship with the other members of the swim-team. Good job from everybody involved and I recommend these 90 minutes.
The lead actress is Austrian, don't be confused by her British name and I felt she looked a bit like Anna Kendrick at times. The ending is expected, but that's not a problem here either. I liked how the swimmers won only silver in the end and not gold. This film managed nicely not to go over the top. There are a couple nice details about this movie. Actually, I learned a couple new things about the religion of Islam, but I also liked how they made the possible illegality of the girl's swim suit an issue. One thing that could have been better initially is that basically all students in her class were exactly the same and against her. Maybe some more differentiating would not have hurt. However, this is also fixed near the end when the girl seems to have a pretty good relationship with the other members of the swim-team. Good job from everybody involved and I recommend these 90 minutes.
