Ammonite (2020) review

Paleontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) - who lives with her mum Molly (Gemma Jones) and runs a small shop selling fossils - gets a visit from geologist Roderick Murchison (James McArdle) who leaves his sickly wife Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan) in Mary's care: they quickly go from strongly disliking each other to forming a sexual relationship.  Even though it's based on real individuals, Lee's less interested in exploring what made Anning begin studying fossils in the first place (Winslet looks totally miserable most of the time) and more in his purely speculative theory that she was a lesbian: too much of it consists of smoldering looks and furtive touching.  The sex scenes are almost comical because they're relatively intense when the rest of the movie is in a gray funk ... and the decision to cut from a scene involving Winslet performing cunnilingus on Ronan to her mother spitting up blood was not a smart one.