Coming not long after the lyrical, spare but haunting Celine Sciamma film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which set a very high bar, Ammonite directed by Francis Lee and starring the more well known actors Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, could not help but be compared in this newish mini genre of period lesbian filmmaking by the sea. And yet it stands firmly on its own.

Mary (Winslet) is an intense, determined, quietly raging sea fossil hunter who lives with her aging mother in the harsh seaside town of Lyme Regis having been canonized with an early ichthyosaur discovery enshrined in the British museum.(The script is loosely based on the true life story of paleontologist Mary Anning) The life of the spinster who has dedicated herself to her self taught work, alas now mostly touristic to make ends meet, is upended when the young, wealthy Charlotte is entrusted to her care by her neglectful husband. Ostensibly to teach her something of the trade while taking the sea air, Mary becomes a full time caretaker when she falls ill. Therein ensues the at first tentative, then wildly passionate, hermetic love affair between the two.

Though there aren't surprises in the narrative, the acting and the respectful filmmaking are indeed sublime, and my question about the money-shot lovemaking scene arises not for its delicious eroticism but for its 21st century abandonment.

Winslet, who has slowly transformed from beautiful leading lady into a character actress (see also the 2019 Blackbird) is entirely believable and Ronan continues to find her way to a very diverse, substantial career. The film is welcome as a serious, elegant, sensual counterpoint to world events, a lockdown of another kind.