‘Ammonite’ movie review: Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan’s forbidden romance flatters to deceive

Director Francis Lee brings a meditative beauty to his second feature, that will remain fascinating for its spirit of inquiry

There is a meditative beauty about Ammonite, which could prove soothing or distant depending on your frame of mind. The eternally dependable Kate Winslet plays Mary Anning (1799-1847), a palaeontologist whose fossil discoveries in Lyme, Dorset challenged the theories of extinction. Mary lives with her ailing mother, Molly (Gemma Jones) scoring the coast for fossils which she sells at a shop attached to the house. One day a geologist, Roderick Murchison (James McArdle), visits Mary’s shop and asks for a private tour of the coast where she gets her fossils. Though initially reluctant, she agrees. When Murchison has to leave for the continent, he asks Mary to watch over his wife, Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan) who has been ordered to take the sea air to recover from illness and depression. Those Mary bristles with annoyance, she agrees and when Charlotte falls ill with fever, Mary nurses her to health. A bond is formed between the two women. As a love story, Ammonite does not work, as despite the excellent acting skills of both Winslet and Ronan, there seems to be no chemistry between the two, despite frantic fumblings, grapplings and moans.