What You Should Know About Ammonite

Shall we talk about one of the most talked about film that is to be released this year? Ammonite is a romantic drama film by Francis Lee loosely based on the life of British palaeontologist Mary Anning.

Anning was an English fossil collector and dealer born in 1799 who mostly dealt with fossils from the Jurassic era. She made her name in the field of palaeontology by finding marine fossil beds along the English Channel in Dorset, Southwest England. If that wasn’t enough, she also dealt with fossil poop, better known as coprolites, and was the first one to identify them as fossilised faeces. Kinda gross but still very cool, isn’t it?

The movie, however, doesn’t focus much on the fossil side of her story.  It introduces her in a lesbian plot, along with geologist Charlotte Murchison, wife of British geologist Roderick Murchison. When does the movie come out? Will it be worth watching? Well, keep on reading to find out!

Ammonite: Plot and Cast

The movie plot stands a little apart from the real life story of Mary Anning, but here it is. Anning, now retiring from her life of acclaimed self-taught palaeontologist, now sells common fossils to rich tourists.

One such tourist, Roderick Murchison, entrusts her to take care of his wife Charlotte, who is recuperating from personal issues. Mary accepts in order to save herself from poverty, but finds it hard to adjust living with someone from a wholly different world than hers.

Of course, this is before they find they share between themselves an all-consuming passionate affair that soon turns into something more than just physical attraction.

Kate Winslet plays Mary Anning while Saoirse Ronan plays Charlotte Murchison. Fiona Shaw plays Elizabeth Philpot while Gemma Jones plays Molly Anning, Mary’s mother. James McArdle plays Roderick Murchison while Claire Rushbrook plays Eleanor Butters.

Ammonite: Release Date and Trailer

While Ammonite first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, it is set to be released theatrically on November 13, 2020 in the United States. Watch the trailer below: