Ammonite
アンモナイトの目覚め
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Palaeontologist Mary Anning and a convalescent wife on the Dorset coast; two of Anning's distant relatives disagreed over the invented romance.
In the 1840s, in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast, Mary Anning searches the beach at low tide for fossils, mostly small ammonites, to sell in the shop she runs with her ailing mother, Molly. Each day Molly polishes eight animal figurines, one for each of the children she has buried.
The geologist Roderick Murchison comes to the shop with his young wife, Charlotte, and pays Mary to teach him fossil hunting. Charlotte is sunk in melancholy, and at night he refuses her, saying it is not the time for another baby. He leaves her in Lyme to convalesce, in Mary's care, while he tours Europe; Mary, who needs the money, reluctantly agrees. After sea-bathing Charlotte falls ill with a fever, and Mary nurses her. Recovered, Charlotte walks the shore with Mary and helps in the house. At an evening recital the town's new doctor invites Mary to, Charlotte comes too and charms the town, while Mary stands outside in the rain, jealous, watching through the window.
Together the two women haul a great rock back to the shop, and inside it lies an ichthyosaur, like the one Mary found at eleven and sent to the British Museum. That night Charlotte kisses Mary, and they become lovers. Then a letter from Roderick calls Charlotte home to London. After she has gone, Molly falls and dies. Mary's friend Elizabeth Philpot, with whom Mary once had a relationship, urges her not to give Charlotte up as she once gave up Elizabeth.
Charlotte writes asking Mary to come to London. At the Murchisons' house Mary finds one of her ammonites displayed in a glass cabinet and a bedroom made ready for her. She will not become an ornament in a gilded cage, she says, and walks out. At the British Museum she finds her ichthyosaur on display with no mention of her name. Charlotte arrives, dressed much as Mary dresses, and the two women look at each other across the glass case.
Starring
Kate Winsletas Mary Anning
A working-class fossil hunter in Lyme Regis, guarded and solitary, whose greatest find sits in a museum without her name.
Mary Anning’s story
Mary searches the shore at low tide for fossils, mostly small ammonites, to sell in the shop she keeps with her ailing mother, Molly. She takes Roderick Murchison's money grudgingly, and with it the care of his melancholy wife, Charlotte. She nurses Charlotte through a fever, watches from outside in the rain as the town takes to her, and writes a love poem. They bring home a new ichthyosaur, Charlotte kisses her, and they are lovers until Roderick calls his wife to London. After Molly dies, Elizabeth Philpot urges Mary not to give Charlotte up as she once gave up Elizabeth. In London Mary will not be an ornament in a gilded cage. At the British Museum, before her ichthyosaur shown without her name, she and Charlotte look at each other through the glass.
Saoirse Ronanas Charlotte Murchison
A young, melancholy wife left in Lyme to convalesce by her husband, who finds with Mary a life of her own.
Charlotte Murchison’s story
At night in the hotel Charlotte's husband, Roderick, turns her away, saying it is not the time for another baby; soon he leaves her in Lyme Regis to recover, in the care of a fossil hunter who does not want her. She follows Mary to the shore, falls ill after sea-bathing and is nursed back to health. She helps in the house, learns what Molly's eight figurines stand for, and charms the town at a recital while Mary watches from outside. After they bring home an ichthyosaur, it is Charlotte who kisses Mary, and they are lovers until Roderick calls her home. From London she offers Mary a bedroom made ready for her; Mary refuses. At the British Museum Charlotte arrives dressed much as Mary dresses, and they look at each other through the glass.
Fiona Shawas Elizabeth Philpot
Mary's older friend and former lover, who urges her not to give up on love a second time.
Gemma Jonesas Molly Anning
Mary's ailing mother, who helps in the shop and keeps a daily ritual for the eight children she lost.
James McArdleas Roderick Murchison
Charlotte's husband, a geologist who admires Mary's work and leaves his wife in her care while he travels.
Why it matters
Ammonite imagines a love affair for a real woman about whose private life almost nothing is known. It ends on the injury it cares about most: Mary's ichthyosaur on show in the British Museum, with her name nowhere on it. There is no evidence of Anning's sexuality, and the choice was questioned; two distant relatives were reported to disagree about it. Francis Lee replied that queer history is routinely straightened, and asked why a heterosexual assumption would need no evidence. Beneath that argument lies the film's steadier concern, which is class and ownership: who gets to keep what a woman makes, whether a fossil, a room or a life. Its lovers part not over scandal but because love offered as a gilded cage is still a cage.