![]() However, she’s the type of withdrawn, flat character that would normally be brought out of her shell by a more vibrant, interesting personality to contrast her with, but instead, she’s paired with Charlotte Murchinson, who is quite possibly the blandest romantic lead in recent memory.įor the first hour of the film, Charlotte has no personality other than the fact that she is sickly, and once she recovers from her illness, her character just seems to float from scene to scene without any real intention or drive. Watching two frail 19th-century paleontologists walk along a windy beach in silence collecting rocks isn’t exactly riveting stuff, and the plot’s lack of urgency would normally be supplemented in a film like this by strong dialogue or artful characters.īetween its two leads, Anning is undoubtedly the stronger character – you get a feel for exactly the type of person Mary is mere seconds after we meet her, and she stays consistent throughout the film, thanks to a steady performance from Winslet. The first, and most pressing, is that Ammonite is a painfully slow film that seems to presume it has the audience’s interest from the getgo instead of working to earn it. It’s difficult to pinpoint one single aspect of where Ammonite has gone wrong – it’s more of a buildup of a series of unfortunate choices. Though she initially resents Charlotte’s presence, as they spend more time together, the pair develop a romantic relationship, but sadly any and all attempts at creating any kind of spark in this film fall utterly flat. Starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, Ammonite is the semi-biographical tale of British paleontologist Mary Anning (Winslet) who falls in love with Charlotte Murchison (Ronan), the wife of one of Anning’s colleagues when she moves in with her to recover from a crippling illness.Īnning is a standoffish loner type who prefers to keep to herself and seems to find pretty much everyone else’s company loathsome. Unlike POALOF, however, Ammonite is dreadfully uninteresting and despite its megawatt star power, the film just isn’t gripping or original enough to make it feel like anything more than a cheap rip-off of a far superior film. ![]() As such, a film of its caliber, prestige, and near-universal acclaim was bound to inspire reactionary films in its wake, which is what we assume happened with Francis Lee’s Ammonite. We don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fireis one of the biggest queer films of the 21st century – up there with Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight, and Call Me By Your Name. By Lauren Coates 2 years ago Follow TweetĪmmonite is a dreadfully slow and painfully unoriginal queer-centric period drama, trying (and failing) to replicate the magic of Portrait of a Lady on Fire
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