Imagine waking up in the morning and being Saoirse Ronan: talented enough to earn four Oscar nominations by the time you turned 25, Irish (an invaluable, iconic asset in itself), and just generally being good craic. She is, in the eyes of the gays, girls and actual paid film critics, the ultimate queen of Young Hollywood. After 13 years on screen (I Could Never Be Your Woman hive, rise up!), our lord and saviour has done what we’ve wanted from her for the longest time: be gay in a movie.
Enter Ammonite, the new film from God’s Own Country director Francis Lee. Widely tipped to be a major player in this sadly scant upcoming Oscar season, the trailer for it dropped today, and it sees — as promised — Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet playing a romantic couple on the shores of Southern England.
Ammonite is set on the coast of Lyme Regis in the 1800s and is inspired by the life of the paleontologist Mary Anning, played by Kate Winslet. Having lived an illustrious life making grand discoveries the world over, her later years are now spent in one spot, scouring the beaches in search of fossils she can sell to passing tourists to fund a life spent caring for her mother. One tourist, named Roderick Murchison, arrives with his wife in tow. Her name is Charlotte and she’s suffering from “melancholia”. Roderick offers Mary money to care for her while he continues his journey; the two starkly opposed personalities clashing at first, but soon realising that they’re actually madly in love with each other. Cue iconic lesbian drama.
The film has been the talk of Film Twitter since it was first announced; the combination of Francis Lee (whose last film God’s Own Country was instantly considered queer canon upon release) and Saoirse Ronan (who’s still everybody’s unequivocal favourite) a match made in heaven. The site is already alight with memes. Fan accounts are changing their names to “Saoirse Ronan’s Oscar”. Nicki Minaj Twitter has already started to collab with Ammonite Twitter too.
The memes are out in full force.
And we frankly cannot wait. Watch the full trailer for Ammonite below.