Its cast also includes Canadian competitive swimmers Ariane Mainville and Hilary Caldwell in supporting roles as Nadia's friends and teammates, as well as Pierre-Yves Cardinal.

[7] For The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney wrote that "Most movies about the physical rigors and psychological toll that force high-performance athletes to give up their chosen discipline — whether it's swimming, track and field, ballet or any other — tend to focus on the pain and injuries, the punishing schedule, the exhaustion, the disappointments of a career in decline.

What makes Plante's drama distinctive is that the decision to quit has already been made both privately and publicly, and the detachment is already in process as Nadia (Katerine Savard) gives an awkward press interview while she's still catching her breath after an individual race toward the close of the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

He opined that "while Savard has her moments - including a deep cry backstage after capturing the bronze - she is not strong enough to do the heavy emotional lifting that the film's script requires.

[9] Chris Knight of the National Post also concurred that the film's setting at an event that was cancelled in reality technically made it a science fiction movie, but praised Savard and the other non-professional actors in the cast for their naturalistic performances.