How Mermaiding Changed a Life: ‘Miss Mermaid’ and the Woman from Fécamp

Fécamp – 02.07.2026: In “Miss Mermaid”, the new feature comedy by Pauline Brunner and Marion Verlé, a young woman from the port town of Fécamp rediscovers herself through so-called mermaiding — swimming with a fin. It is based on the story of the real Alexia from Fécamp, who in TV reports this week described how training in the water gave her structure, calm and confidence. The film opened on 01.07.2026 in France.

Aloïse Sauvage plays the lead; Thomas VDB and Alison Wheeler support her. The staging shifts between the indoor pool, the coast and club rooms, presenting the mermaid costume less as escapism than as a physical practice: breath control, posture, rhythm. The fin motif serves as both a tool and a symbol, sometimes a glittering costume, sometimes a strict sporting apparatus. The camera work and sound emphasize textures — water, fabric, breath — giving a locally rooted story a universally understandable emotionality.

Alexia’s reported experiences provide the resonant space, without the film tipping into pathos. Instead of a grand miracle narrative, it develops into a light comedy with serious undertones, showing how routines, training and a small scene between sport, performance and self-empowerment can become a support. Mermaiding is a growing niche in France: clubs offer courses, swimming pools set up time slots and safety rules, and between competition, show and hobby a visible community has emerged in recent years. The film uses this reality as a backdrop and includes amateurs and trainers in supporting roles to bolster credibility.

The production and cast emphasize in advance interviews the research into technique and safety aspects — from fitting the monofin to breathing and rescue routines. This keeps the boundary between documentary reference and fiction deliberately permeable. The story is less interested in records than in the social environment: friendships at the poolside, rehearsals, small setbacks, the courage to glide into the water in front of an audience.

“Miss Mermaid” thus joins a series of French feel-good films that combine everyday experiences and specific practices with humor, without idealizing their protagonists. The film invites viewers to take a subculture seriously, one that works with a playful surface yet demands discipline. And it visibly anchors this story in Normandy — with wind, salt air and the rugged coast of Fécamp — where a hobby can become an anchor.