Ammonite

What is it?

Ammonite is a romantic drama film. Set in the 1840s, the film is loosely inspired by the life of Mary Anning, a pioneering self-taught palaeontologist. Mary works alone on the wild and brutal Southern English coastline of Lyme Regis. With the days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now hunts for common fossils to sell to rich tourists. When one such tourist, Roderick Murchison, arrives in Lyme on the first leg of a European tour, he entrusts Mary with the care of his depressed wife, Charlotte. Despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte begin a passionate and all-consuming love affair.

What to expect

Ammonite is a bleak and slow-moving film about forbidden love. The film has merit for its period aesthetics and stellar performances by a female-centric cast. The film requires age restriction due to the sex scenes: children and younger teens are likely to find the sex scenes and nudity shocking and confronting. These scenes are intentionally titillating, and society perceives that there is potential for harm in exposing children and young teens to adult sexual behaviour before they are developmentally ready for it.