Sometimes biographies shed new light on once-obscure historical figures—like Mary Anning, a self-taught 19th century paleontologist, renowned for groundbreaking discoveries of extinct, Jurassic-era marine skeletons. Middle-aged Anning (Kate Winslet) is a brusque, working-class misanthrope who has a small shop, selling artifacts to tourists in the dreary British seaside town of Lyme-Regis on the Dorset coast, specializing in the spiral ammonite mollusk fossils she digs out of the steep, rock-strewn cliffs. Timid Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan) is depressed, following the loss of a baby, so her wealthy husband Roderick (James McArdle) pawns her off to austere Anning as an unofficial apprentice during her convalescence.
Slowly, a tenuous friendship grows between the two lonely women. It’s the 1840s, when homosexuality was never openly discussed. And, yes, there’s an explicit love scene, choreographed by Winslet & Ronan under the supervision of minimalist writer/director Francis Lee, whose God’s Own Country chronicled a romance between two Yorkshiremen. “We felt really safe,” Winslet explains. “We marked out the beats of the scene so that we were anchored in something that supported the narrative. I felt the proudest I’ve ever felt doing a love scene and, by far, the least self-conscious.” Winslet goes on: “This is a story about women speaking up, speaking out. I think uncovering stores where women were repressed in such a systematic way is highlighting how history has covered up their successes. We’re not going to do that anymore, world.” In supporting roles, Gemma Jones plays Anning’s ailing, widowed mother, while Fiona Shaw scores as Anning’s old love interest. Stark and slow-simmering, it lacks the spark to make it truly memorable. Optional.