After making one of the best films of the last decade – God’s Own Country (2017) – director Francis Lee had a lot to live up to when making his follow-up. To add further pressure, he has cast the Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan and the Oscar-winning Kate Winslet in the central roles of Ammonite, meaning that expectations are certainly heightened. We all know that biopics are Oscar-nip, but Lee has made the unorthodox and quite brave choice to stray from biopic convention, and instead create a fictionalised version of a specific time in the life of a well-known historical figure.
Lyme Regis in Dorset, England is known for two things – the Cobb, made famous by The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981) and its Jurassic Coast. In the early 19th century, it was also the home of Mary Anning – a pioneering scientist who collected and identified fossils in a time when the general public could barely comprehend what dinosaurs or prehistoric creatures were.
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In Lee’s take on her story, Anning (Winslet) lives in a humble house-come-fossil-shop with her mother Molly (Gemma Jones). One day Roderick Murchison (James McArdle) visits the shop and asks to accompany Mary on her fossil-hunting expeditions, which she reluctantly agrees to, due to needing the money. He is then called away to Europe and leaves behind his young wife Charlotte (Ronan), who is in a depressed state due to a miscarriage or infant death, believing the sea air will be the magic cure-all she needs. She clearly takes in too much of the bracingly cold climate, because she collapses in Mary’s shop from a fever. Mary takes her in – to her own bed, no less – caring for her during her illness and they gradually fall in love.
Much like with God’s Own Country, perhaps Ammonite’s greatest strength is Lee’s communication with nature and how much of a visceral experience it is to see and hear the harsh environs that envelop his characters. Stephane Fontaine’s cinematography and Johnnie Burn’s sound design combine to fully immerse the audience in a harsh winter by the sea. Mary is caught between the crashing waves and the dangerous shale cliffs as she tirelessly sifts through rocks with red-raw hands, searching for the ‘gold’ that will help her and her mother survive.
Another huge positive of the film is the detailed costume design by Michael O’Connor – particularly in its depiction of how the working class Annings contrast with the upper class Murchisons. The thick layers of coarse fabric that Mary wears weigh her down, especially as they’re constantly cold and wet, whereas Charlotte’s dainty florals reveal unblemished white shoulders. The costuming highlights how Charlotte is unsuited to life with the Annings – whether she is borrowing Mary’s boots to ‘help’ with the beach-combing, scraping carrots in the kitchen or being blackened from fetching coal out of the shed.
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The supporting characters add a richness to the world Lee creates and the casting is impeccable across the board. Lee brings Gemma Jones and Alec Secareanu from God’s Own Country over to his sophomore feature and both are delightful. Jones is particularly heart-breaking as a mother of ten children, with only two surviving past the age of four. She has memorialised her children in a small set of china lambs which she meticulously cleans and polishes each day. This is the only sliver of sentimentality allowed, with the rest of daily life dedicated to surviving the hardships of their existence. Secareanu plays a doctor who takes to a shine to Mary and invites her to a recital in his home (which Charlotte tags along to). And there is Fiona Shaw as the feisty Elizabeth Philpot – a wealthy local woman, with a gorgeous home and garden, who is a former flame of Mary’s.
While Ronan is as reliably excellent as ever, Ammonite is really a showcase for Winslet. This is the best role she’s had since 2015’s The Dressmaker and she finally gets to fully stretch her acting muscles again, demonstrating why is she one of the best of her generation. Mary is constantly bowed, hunched over her fossils – cleaning or examining or drawing them. Her world is small and detailed and while the Murchisons are initially an unwelcome disturbance and distraction, Charlotte gradually gets her to lift her head and see what is around her. Charlotte awakens Mary’s senses, pulling her out of her analytical brain and into her passionate heart. The contrast between the cold, windswept beach where Mary scratches out her livelihood and the warm glow of the bedroom where the two women discover one another and their own bodies is exquisite.
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Some of the best films of this year have been unconventional biopics – True History of the Kelly Gang and Shirley both grappled with the ‘true’ stories of their subjects and wrestled with the fact that history is full of unreliable narrators. Lee has said, in an interview with rogerebert.com; “I knew I didn’t want to write a biopic. I don’t think I’d be good at making a biopic.” Instead, he wanted to “respect and elevate” Anning by imagining this relationship that she could have had.
For me, this is so much more interesting than the kind of biopic with its predictable tropes (brilliantly lampooned in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) that usually wins awards. This is clearly another highly personal project for Lee and it’s all the better for it. Ammonite is an intimate story with a rich atmosphere, a keen sense of both the inner and outer life of an extraordinary woman – all centred around one of Winslet’s best performances. Another beautiful film from Francis Lee.
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