30 | New Scientist | 14 November 2020
Film
Ammonite
Francis Lee
US cinemas 13 Nov, UK cinemas TBCAMMONITE is unhurried in
a way that won’t be everyone’s
cup of tea. But then again, neither
was the fieldwork essential to
palaeontology in the 19th century.
Fossil collection can be a slow
and sometimes boring business,
which is presumably why so
many men of learning left Mary
Anning – poor, working class, self-
educated – to do much of the work
involved in excavation, then took
all the credit when the items were
displayed in London museums.
The film’s opening is also a
little slow at times, but it is right
to pay heed to the labour-intensive
nature of this vital work. We meet
Anning (Kate Winslet) as she scales
the cliffs at Lyme Regis in Dorset,
UK. Her skirts are tucked between
her legs and a harsh wind whistles
by as she tugs at rocks lodged deep
within the clay, often tumbling
down the slope before she has
secured anything worthwhile.
It is hard, solitary graft.
Back in her studio, she
brushes ammonites and
other small fossils for tourists
to buy. The 5-metre ichthyosaur
skeleton she famously unearthed
aged just 12 has long since been
transported far away to the capital,
its bones under glass, bearing
someone else’s name. Unlike
many of her peers, Anning must
earn a living, and because of her
class and sex, she doesn’t have
access to the scientific societies
that would elevate her position.
She lives alone with her
crotchety mother in a tiny, freezing
cottage. Their life is quiet, although
crashing waves and harsh winds
roar around her on the beachbonnets, the dialogue often
painfully sparse, they must
act predominantly with their
faces. It would have been easy
to overplay everything as a result,
but instead it is their reserve that
moves us – a discreet look of
curiosity here, a secret smile there.
Winslet’s transformation from
gruff loner to passionate lover is
particularly fine. Initially unhappy
at being lumbered with a frail
gentlewoman, their connection
takes her by surprise. She has
convinced herself she needs
isolation, even enjoys it, when
in reality she has had no choice.
Women at this time either had to
be owned or alone. This is a story
about Victorian misogyny and
female friendship more than
it is about Anning herself.
From here, the film departs
from fact as Anning and her new
friend become lovers. However,
it isn’t so much the film’s pace or
infidelity to the truth that is most
likely to disappoint, but rather the
scant attention it pays to Anning’s
actual achievements.
Anya Pearson, a trustee of
Mary Anning Rocks, a charity
campaigning for a statue of
Anning to be built in Lyme
Regis, praises the portrayal of the
“horrendous slog of fieldwork”
but says of the film: “I do think it
uses Anning as a vessel. It could
have been any two women in this
romance. There’s actually very
little palaeontology.”
Anning was born in 1799
in Lyme Regis. Her father, a
carpenter, supplemented his
income by collecting “curios”
from the local cliffs and taught his
daughter to do the same. As well
as her childhood discovery of an
ichthyosaur, she also found the
first complete plesiosaur in her
twenties. Although today she is
sometimes credited with finding
dinosaurs, the fossils Anningand creep in the window
cracks – Ammonite’s sound
design is one of its finest features.
Into one of these quiet days
come Mr and Mrs Murchison.
Roderick (James McArdle) is a
geologist who wishes to learn
from Anning. Charlotte (Saoirse
Ronan) has “mild melancholia”,
apparently brought on by
childlessness. In reality, Charlotte
was indeed friends with Anning,
but was also a lively geologist and
was in some ways responsible for
her husband’s successes. Here, she
is a fragile creature, lonely in her
marriage. We see her reaching for
a husband who leaves her in Lyme
Regis to recuperate as he goes
off on his European tour, paying
the Annings to watch over her.
Ronan and Winslet do some
nuanced, career-best work here.
Trussed up in their Victorian
petticoats and cumbersomeViews Culture
Mary Anning (Kate
Winslet) and Charlotte
Murchison (Saoirse
Ronan) in AmmoniteNE
ONHunting for fossils
Ammonite diligently shows the hard work involved in palaeontology,
but its portrayal of Mary Anning isn’t all it could be, says Francesca Steele“ This is a story about
Victorian misogyny
and female friendship
more than it is about
Mary Anning herself ”