In the 2020 film Ammonite, Kate
Winslet plays Mary Anning, a British paleontologist who lived in the
1800s.
Because of her gender, Anning was not
credited for her discoveries.
The film features a speculative
romantic relationship between Anning and British geologist Charlotte
Murchison, played by Saoirse Ronan. There is no evidence that the
women had a love affair in real life.
“Pairing Mary with a woman who had a
similar sensibility to her in terms of how they viewed the world, it
felt worthy of Mary,” Winslet, who is best known for her role in
Titanic, told CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mark
Phillips.
“I feel the lack of same-sex love
stories in our mainstream. And I often feel that the narratives are
underpinned by fear, secrecy, and shame.”
“And I think that in Ammonite
it's about two people who fall in love. And the fact that they are
both women, is very much secondary to that,” she
added.
Ammonite premiered last fall at
the Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently available
for rent or purchase on most streaming platforms.