In David Michod’s latest film, Christy, Sydney Sweeney embodies the title role with ferocity and conviction. “Maybe it’s true,” she narrates between punches in the prologue. “Maybe I have demons inside of me.” The line, delivered mid-fight, encapsulates the film’s theme: a woman’s relentless pursuit of triumph amid the toils of tragedy.

Sweeney plays Christy Martin, the trailblazing boxer who in the 1990s put women’s boxing on the map — creating the product, cultivating the audience, and forcing the sport to take her seriously. The cultural landscape then was nothing like today’s ESPN-boosted WNBA; Martin had everything working against her. Known to many for Euphoria, Sweeney herself has wrestled with being taken seriously by an audience inclined to ogle. Like every generational sex symbol, from Marilyn Monroe to Megan Fox, she has had to fight the perception of her body as her only credential. Christy is her bid for liberation from that gaze.