LFF Review: ‘Ammonite’
Ammonite is director Francis Lee’s follow up to the critically acclaimed God’s Own Country, and it tells the story of famed paleontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet), who works alone on the brutal English coast, many years after her important discoveries. She now searches for fossils on the beach, so she can sell them to rich tourists and be able to care for herself and her ailing mother. Mary lives a solitary life and is standoffish and abrasive with people, but her life is turned upside down when she ends up having to accompany and care for a young woman, Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan). While they initially struggle to connect, this quickly changes and becomes a romance that turns both of their lives’ upside down.
Charlotte spends the first half of the film barely speaking, as it is revealed she is suffering from a severe depression. While it is not directly addressed, it is clear she is reeling from the loss of a child and no one around her seems to offer any sympathy, and the medicine of the time could also be of no help, at one stage a doctor simply prescribes her “sea air” for her condition. Ronan portrays this overwhelming sadness particularly well, making Charlotte very much the heart of the movie and her passion for Mary becomes instantly believable, as she finally has someone who genuinely cares for her.
Mary on the other hand is colder and more reserved, even towards Charlotte to begin with. She is much like the Ammonite of the title, a coiled fossil, spiraling out and hiding under a hardened shell. But as Mary knows better than anyone, something beautiful is worth the time and effort to excavate, and that is exactly how her relationship with Charlotte plays out. After Charlotte takes interest in her work and Mary looks after Charlotte, the two seem to grow a mutual understanding and quickly this develops into longing glances and brief touches, as they yearn for something that feels out of reach. The two quickly however enter a sexual relationship and both of their lives are changed. Just as she does in her work, Mary manages to bring Charlotte out of her shell, and the funny and hopeful young woman that her husband so desperately wanted back emerges.
One of the main reasons I expect the reactions to be mixed to this film is that much of it is unexpectedly cold and distant, and despite this very clearly being a careful directorial choice, I can understand why it may leave people feeling flat and emotionally uninvested in the story. However, Francis Lee has very deliberately made this a cold and distant film, so that the spark that lights between the two characters can feel even more intense. The film immediately heats up as they fall in love, with the frowns replaced by smiles and the bed that Mary once miserably slept in alone, now filled with passionate love. It is a risky directorial decision to make the film in the style he did, and one I am still undecided by in many ways, but I respect the very clear vision he had and his full commitment to it.
This film lives or dies by the performances of its two leads, and they are the absolute key reason as to why it largely works. Winslet appears in nearly every scene in a very unshowy part, yet uses her years of experience to deliver a very powerful performance where she shows most of her emotions through her body language and expressions alone. It is Saoirse Ronan however who steals the show, and Ronan, even at a young age, continues to be one of the finest working actors. Here she goes through a real transformation and we completely buy it because of Ronan’s performance. She is the heart of the film and you feel real joy when she finally cracks an honest smile in Mary’s presence after all her suffering.
The final section of the film does not play out at all as you would expect, as the crushing weight of reality comes back down on these women and it may lead to people leaving the film feeling slightly deflated, with the familiar way many LGBT+ relationships in period dramas are impacted by the ‘real-world’ sinking in. However, the quiet and unassuming final shot manages to leave you with a sense of hope, and a yearning for what could potentially be in store for Mary and Charlotte. – Sam Howe
Rating: 3.5/5
Ammonite screened at the 2020 London Film Festival.