Film Review: "Ammonite" (2020).

From the director of God's Own Country comes Ammonite. This romantic drama film written and directed by Francis Lee. In 1800s England, acclaimed but unrecognized fossil hunter Mary Anning works alone on the rugged Southern coastline. With the days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now searches for common fossils to sell to tourists to support herself and her ailing mother. When a wealthy visitor entrusts Mary with the care of his wife Charlotte Murchison, she cannot afford to turn his offer down. Proud and relentlessly passionate about her work, Mary initially clashes with her unwelcome guest, but despite the distance between their social class and personalities, an intense bond begins to develop, compelling the two women to determine the true nature of their relationship.

In December 2018, it was announced Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan were cast in a romantic drama film, loosely inspired by the life of British palaeontologist Mary Anning, penned and to be directed by Lee. By early March 2019, Fiona Shaw, Gemma Jones and James McArdle rounded out the cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, , where Anning actually worked and collected fossils in the early 1800s. The film shot chronologically in order to deepen the immersion in the characters' psychological trajectory. David Tucker, director of the Lyme Regis Museum, consulted on the film's scientific accuracy. Winslet meticulously transformed herself to portray Mary, especially altering her manner of walking, that when she arrived on set out of character, Lee failed to recognise her. Lizzie Wiscombe, a volunteer at the Lyme Regis Museum, was asked to record her voice for Winslet to base her Dorset dialect on. Winslet listened to the recording for three weeks, including when taking her children to school. When Winslet read out a scene to her, Wiscombe was in tears.

The film stars Winslet, Ronan, Shaw, Jones and McArdle. Lee shapes the story so tenderly and poetically, but it is Winslet and Ronan generate huge pathos with two exceptionally well-judged performances.

Lee creates a more credible rural milieu, anchored in the grubby details of raising livestock and the furious emotional repression of his female characters. The film is a one where every frame is full of light and texture specifically designed to convey the subtle nuances of this relationship, and to give it a specificity anchored in this place and time. This is a love story, a truly great one, showing the transformative and healing powers of loving and being loved. It's moving, beautiful and will be one of the best films of 2020. Lee has made an astonishing sophomore effort. It is a love story of rare power and depth, whose effects are felt not through words the characters say but through the words they don't. It is a film that exceeds the expectations of just a lesbian romance in a windswept, ruggedly romantic location, by offering fine performances and a touching tale of self-discovery.

Simon says Ammonite receives:

Also, see my review for God's Own Country.