The broad strokes of the picture-two women who feel lost and lonely find affection in each other’s arms-makes sense, but their love never comes alive in any sense. She’s almost created an anti-romance, and while that seems like it would be fascinating, in practice you have two actors with little chemistry cast against a backdrop that never mirrors any supposed affection the characters may have for each other. I wish I could have been swept away in this story, but Lee’s choices are baffling. From there, their bond deepens, and the aloof Mary starts to fall for the warm-hearted Charlotte. The two women don’t connect at first, and Charlotte attempts suicide, but Mary nurses her back to health. When Roderick decides to tour Europe, he pays Mary to keep company with Charlotte in the hopes that the sea air will do her some good. However, Roderick’s wife Charlotte ( Saoirse Ronan) is depressed and doesn’t have much interest in anything. Her work catches the interest of wealthy hobbyist Roderick Murchison ( James McArdle), who wishes to join her on her excavations. Mary Anning ( Kate Winslet) spends her days roaming the coastline of her town picking up fossils. It’s a film that manages to be so quiet that it barely has a pulse, and yet so obvious that it lacks a sense of intimacy. And yet whereas Portrait of a Lady on Fire is one of the best love stories in cinema, Ammonite is a cold, dry picture that goes through the motions without ever pushing deeper into its characters’ psyches or their relationship. It’s about the love affair between two women who can’t live their romance openly but feel a burning passion that can only end with bittersweet melancholy. On paper, Francis Lee’s Ammonite seems like the kind of film for those who enjoyed last year’s exquisite Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |