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Ammonite - Mary Anning Film

78 replies

Fossiliy · 27/08/2020 10:31

Just seen a trailer for the new Kate Winslet film ‘Ammonite’. I went fossil hunting with my family on holiday in Lyme Regis last year for the 1st time ever and purposely got the audio book of Tracey Chevalier’s book ‘Remarkable Creatures’ to give me some insight into Mary Anning.

Admittedly I have a reaction to audio books that mean I fall asleep to them far too quickly if I’m listening in bed (must be a throwback to falling asleep during the bedtime story) so my recollection of the story might be slightly fogged. BUT I don’t remember it being a ‘love story’ about two women set amongst the sludge and windswept beaches of Dorset? The film seems to be pushing this as the main thrust of the film.

The main theme I took from the book was the huge prejudice against women and the enormous injustice of several men trying to take credit for Anning’s discoveries. Class was certainly an issue too between the two female protagonists and their relationship was at the core of the book. There was a sense of repression and suppression of women in all aspects of their lives most certainly. But I don’t recall a love-affair or even any sense of attraction on a sexual level?

I know, I know artistic license and all that but I can’t just help but imagine when they optioned the book someone saying ‘Two Victorian women right? A friendship right? Can we shoehorn some girl-on-girl action here?’

I think it’s a fascinating story and I was very ignorant about the history and importance of Mary Anning. Maybe I should hold back full judgement until I see the film but I can’t help feeling a bit cynical.

Did Tracey Chevalier gloss over a lesbian relationship? I wonder what she thinks of it? Anyone else read the book?

OP posts:
Quire · 15/09/2025 13:06

Treaclewell · 15/09/2025 12:54

I know this is zombie, but I have a bit of info which might be relevant. A while back, long before this film, there was a piece in the Guardian about how the female curator at Lyme Regis museum was trying to improve knowledge about MA. I was interested because BBC schools had broadcast a drama about her life. But I was more interested that the curator had been at my school, a few years ahead of me. There was nothing personal about her in the piece, and about any attitude she might have to MA because of her own life, but she was known at school to be more interested in women than men. And I am wondering if that had any influence on the film makers.
Also, the posts above refer to MA being ignored by the elite geologists because of being a woman and lower class. The class thing worked against men as well. William Smith the first to draw a map of the UK was ignored, and Dr.Gideon Mantel who discovered the iguanodon in Sussex had a struggle for it to be recognised.

Edited

Seriously? The curator at Lyme Regis museum, who was rumoured to be a lesbian during your school days, mugged Francis Lee, the producers and BBC Films, and forcibly insinuated her own (putative) interest in women into a film about an under-acknowledged 19thc palaeontologist?🙄

Treaclewell · 15/09/2025 13:12

No, just put the idea into their head by existing. No force involved.

Grammarnut · 15/09/2025 16:26

DreadPirateLuna · 27/08/2020 11:32

It doesn't look like Ammonite is an adaptation of Remarkable Creatures. They're seperate stories based on the life of Mary Anning.

AFAIK, there's no evidence of any romantic relationship in Anning's life, and it's a shame they felt the need to sex up her story, which is fascinating in its own right. I'd much rather watch something that concentrated on her scientific discoveries and the prejudice she faced.

Maybe I'm a hypocrite because I did like The Favourite, despite there being no evidence that Queen Anne was lesbian. I'm probably cutting that film some slack because of Olivia Colman's amazing performance, and I feel less protective of monarchs than of working-class scientists.

Anne was accused of having an unnatural relationship with Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, in her lifetime - probably put about by Abigal Matcham who loathed Sarah. There is no evidence of such a relationship, only the rumour-mill, and Anne was devoted to her husband, George of Denmark.

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