Frida Kempff’s second feature length is The Swedish Torpedo, chronicling the life of someone before greatness. The titular protagonist of this biopic is Sally Bauer (Josefin Neldén), slumming it in a school locker room. The locker room is actually for a housewife school, where a maid’s uniform waits for her, and being a housewife is respectable work, an option for single mothers like her. But the water waits for her as a long range swimmer who wants to do things faster than others can.
The only information about Bauer’s life is from a page from the Swedish version of Wikipedia. Nonetheless, I’m still taking The Swedish Torpedo as Kempff introduces Henry (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), a journalist. Since they’re in a relationship, he chronicles her as she swims through the Kattegat strait in Scandinavia. They used that swim to get sponsors so she could swim the English Channel in 1939. She tries to be a professional athlete, which she juggles alongside being a single mother.
I’m of two minds when it comes to how The Swedish Torpedo depicts minor characters, and some of those pop up when Henry takes Sally to meet some rich male sponsors. Their dialogue consists of them making jokes at her, existing for Sally and Henry’s horror tales. I also literally have no memory of her sister Carla (Lisa Carlehed), who gets third billing here. But at least this gives us Sally and her unwavering determination to do what most people, regardless of gender, can physically do.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Drama, History
- Release Date: 9/12/2024
- Directed by: Frida Kempff
- Starring: Josefin Neldén, Lisa Carlehed, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
- Produced by: Riina Sildos, Sebastian Schelenz
- Written by: Frida Kempff
- Studio: Momento Film, Toolbox Film
