![]() The film is by writer-director Francis Lee, whose most significant previous work is 2017’s God’s Own Country. (She’s already done two major interviews in which she explains she’s not concerned about awards anymore, while dropping bombshell quote after endearing anecdote that seem acutely calibrated to kick off an award-season run.) In theatres, where open, Friday, November 13.It’s the movie you’ve already heard about, the one with the strange title in which Kate Winslet has a lesbian sex scene and is hanging her Oscar hopes on. Starring Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Jones. And whether Lee’s instincts about Mary Anning are right or wrong, his portrait of women’s lives in the mid-1800s is worthy.Īmmonite. Written and directed by Francis Lee. ![]() Still, in spite of its flaws, Ammonite does a good job of evoking time and place. For my money, it’s the most interesting and impactful scene because it adds an interesting layer of complexity to her. Lee has assembled a terrific cast, in addition to the leads, the film also benefits from the formidable Fiona Shaw, who has a small but pivotal scene with Mary close to the end. And by the end, it feels like Lee wasn’t completely sure of which story he wanted to tell. And although there’s a softening of the relationship between the women, there just isn’t much chemistry. The soft details and furtive glances give us a sense of tension, but the characters largely remain undeveloped, rendering the movie a little flat. Much of the soundtrack is made up of ordinary sounds: shoes on creaking floor boards, crashing waves, wagon wheels and horses hooves on stone streets. The film has a wonderfully quiet, reflective, and intimate tone, but that lovely subtlety ultimately robs it of some of its impact.Īmmonite begins to falter in the final scenes. Ammonite is a visually beautiful movie. Lee and cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine approach each shot with an artist’s eye. The camera lingers on details, hands working with stone or ritually washing a collection of figurines. Rather than develop character, he’s focused on atmosphere. But even still, we don’t get many colours from this woman. Winslet lifts the veil every so often so that we can see the vulnerability hiding under that tough exterior. She doesn’t even seem to draw pleasure from her work. Winslet plays her as an intensely controlled woman, constantly on guard, with a jaw set in a fixed permanent look of disapproval, and a sense of anger just below the surface. But it’s mostly a character study of Lee’s version of Mary Anning. On the surface Ammonite presents as a love story. The refined Charlotte has been brought up to be an upper-class wife, quiet, obedient and not used to house work, never mind in the outdoors. Initially Mary can barely suppress her irritation, but shift happens, as they say. Mary’s professional briskness extends to her personal life. Roderick asks Mary to let Charlotte stay and help, hoping that the sea air and new experiences will help bring her out of her state of grief and back to joy again. The refined Charlotte ( Saoirse Ronan) is in mourning and deeply depressed. One of them is Roderick Murchison ( James McArdle), a rich Londoner who has brought his wife to Dorset with the express purpose of leaving her there for a while. Mary may not be as accepted as the men in her world, but she’s serious about what she does, and she has fans. This is also where Mary does her more serious cleaning and meticulous cataloging of her finds. She and her mother ( Gemma Jones) live in a small building that also houses the shop where they sell shells and ammonites to tourists. ![]() Mary ( Kate Winslet) fronts a gruff and testy personality, seemingly to keep people at bay. The story is set in Lyme Regis Dorset where the real Mary Anning lived. Even in a movie that deals, in part, with the way the male dominated society of the mid-1800s prevented Anning from really benefitting from her considerable talent, there’s irony that, in giving her attention, Lee has also overwritten her personal identity. The controversies are less about sexual orientation, and more about taking over the identity of an historical figure and imposing a ‘what if’ scenario on her life.
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