Saoirse ronan ammonite movie#

In truth, however, he wants to foist his sad bride on Mary (for a fee) while he takes off for the continent. HeвЂ™s arrived in Dorset to ostensibly learn from the once legendary Mary Anning.

The reason for the pairвЂ™s meeting is actually the result of CharlotteвЂ™s husband Roderick Murchison (James McArdle), a dithering and overbearing snob who cannot possibly comprehend why his wife has succumbed to melancholia.

Saoirse ronan ammonite movie#

And on paper that should be fineвЂ¦ if the movie wasnвЂ™t just as cold as its landscapes. The filmвЂ™s kenner interest lies in showing a withdrawn woman finally finding freedom, and even love, from the unlikely acquaintance of Charlotte Murchison ( Saoirse Ronan), the much younger wife of a wealthy patron. ItвЂ™s a shame though that the movie seems to agree with this self-loathing assessment, treating these elements as mere background. Those achievements are mentioned in passing in Ammonite-early life successes that made her a brief celebrity before her gender and location led to her being forgotten.

Below the cliffs of Dorset and along the English Channel, she discovered fossils that identified the ichthyosaur and informed our understanding of the plesiosaur. The real-life Mary Anning was a pioneer in the burgeoning field of paleontology in the 19th century: a woman who made significant scientific advancements in our understanding of Jurassic marine life. Presumably writer-director Francis Lee wishes to underscore the solitude of AnningвЂ™s work yet itвЂ™s not clear if the filmmaker is aware that this is by far the most compelling aspect of the movie. The film similarly revels in the daily monotony of her life, which appears to consist of digging through rocks no one else gives a second glance, a lonely figure on a gray beach. Mary, played by a particularly stoic Kate Winslet, says this repeatedly to other characters, and displays an almost aggressive wariness toward any tourist who hints at an interest in her career. From the beginning, Ammonite wants audiences to know that the work of paleontologist Mary Anning is out of fashion.