"Ammonite" is a British movie written and directed by Francis Lee. It made the the Film Festival circuits in late 2019, and was to be released in early 2020, but got lost in the COVID Pandemic shuffle. It was finally released theatrically in the United States in November of 2020, but if it played anywhere in the Pittsburgh area, I missed it. It is now available for rental on Prime, and that is where I watched it today. To be perfectly honest, in and of itself, this is not a movie that I would be inclined to see, but I wanted to see it because of its two leading actresses, Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. I have said it before, if they filmed Saoirse Ronan reading the phone book, I would no doubt pay to see it. Kate Winslet was an added bonus.
The story takes place in an English Channel seacoast town in the 1840's. Winslet plays Mary Anning, a paleontologist whose discoveries were, and probably still are, on display in the British Museum. Her discoveries were important and widely acclaimed, but due to the societal mores of Victorian England, she herself was not. She spends her days combing the rocky Channel beaches looking for fossils and gathering shells for she and her aging and ailing mother to sell to tourists in their small shop. It is a lonely, forlorn, and mostly a silent existence. See what I meant by this not being one that I would normally be inclined to see.
Into her life comes another paleontologist Roderick Murchison and his wife Charlotte, played by Ronan. Roderick seeks to learn from Mary before he departs on an expedition of is own, and Charlotte is there, suffering from "melancholia" according to Roddy, and needs the sea air to soothe her and help her recover. He convinces Mary to allow Charlotte to stay with her while he's gone to assist in her recovery. Mary has no desire to do so, but Murchison will pay, and she and her Mum could use the money.
Much like Mary, Charlotte too suffers from the repressions towards women in the era. Mary begrudgingly takes care of her and takes her along on her beach hunts, and soon the two of them find something in each other that is missing in each of their lives
The relationship soon takes on physical aspect and Mary and Charlotte engage in a sexual affair. The lovemaking scenes between them are quite powerful and erotic. I wouldn't call them pornographic, but at the same time, I have to say that they might not be to everyone's taste. You've been warned.
I mentioned that the reason I wanted to see this film was to see Winslet and Ronan together on screen and they did not disappoint. As always, Saoirse Ronan was terrific, but this movie really belongs to Kate Winslet. There are long stretches of this movie where the dialog is limited and is often drowned out by background noise (use the subtitles when you stream this one), so the actors need to rely on facial expressions and physical reactions, and, boy, do they pull it off. Pay attention to Winslet's face in one scene as she sits in a gathering in an upper class parlor when a musical recital is being given. And watch both of them as Charlotte boards a carriage to leave the little beach town and return to her husband in London. Both are real WOW moments.
Like I said, this movie normally be my cup of tea and would probably only get Two Grandstander Stars, but the presence of Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan earns this one Three Stars.
By the way, Mary Anning is a real historical figure. Charlotte Murchison is not. There is no historical evidence that Mary was gay, nor is there any such evidence that she was not.
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