Ammonite
2020 · Directed by Francis Lee
Original language: English
- romance
- drama
The story
In 1840s England, palaeontologist Mary Anning and a young woman sent by her husband to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship. Despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realisation that they are not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.
What it’s like
Cold coastal light dominates this 1840s period drama: grey-blue skies over a pebbled Dorset shore, wind-whipped sea, and interiors lit by thin window daylight and the orange glow of a hearth. The palette is muted and earthy, ochre, slate and wet stone, and the camera holds still and frames its two women in close, patient two-shots, letting faces and silences carry the weight. Sound is mostly wind, surf, the scrape of tools on rock and clocks in quiet rooms, with a restrained, mournful score that surfaces sparingly. The mood is melancholy and slow-burning, with a quiet, rigid restraint that gradually thaws into tenderness. Its pace is deliberate, suited to a rainy afternoon or a late evening alone. The story follows two guarded women, one a fossil hunter working in near-poverty and the other a reluctant visitor in grief, as they slowly learn to trust and then need each other. Intensity is low: there is no violence, but there are frank, sensual love scenes, and themes of grief, miscarriage and social cruelty land with real weight. It suits viewers who want emotionally serious period romance with restraint and a melancholy, lived-in atmosphere.
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