Screenwriter Aschlin Ditta based the script on the 2010 Swedish documentary Men Who Swim.[4]
Plot
When accountant Eric seeks to win back his wife Heather, he stumbles upon a solution in the form of a male synchronised swimming team: Men Who Swim. Joining his local team, Eric finds brotherhood in this crew as they train for the World Championships in Milan.
The scenes from the championship competition were filmed at the 25 x 50 metre pool in Basildon Sporting Village.
Release
The film closed the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 1 July 2018. It went on general release in the UK on 4 July.[5]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 54% of 46 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Swimming with Men touches on thought-provoking themes surrounding modern masculinity, but ultimately never manages to do much more than tread water."[6]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 44 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[7]