Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan Struggling To Talk About More Than Their Lesbian Sex Scene in Ammonite?

We haven’t talked much about sex scenes in movies here. Now seems like as good a time as any. Will try to keep it relatively clean, despite the dirty connotations.

Porn aside, I like sex scenes in movies to mean something. With James Bond, there weren’t full on sex scenes, they were kissing and going to the bed or in the bed, and that’s it. Cut to the next action scene. We didn’t need to watch Bond getting it on with the Bond girl to get the point — two pretty people having sex.

In other movies like 365 DNI on Netflix, that movie is just teeming with sex scenes. Some very graphic. I’d call that a softcore porn movie. The sex was the story, about as much as possible without it being a porn. The crossover to porn for me is when the story is not really a story, it’s just there as a framework to show graphic sex. Some porn don’t even try to disguise this by simply characterizing the types of sexual acts that will be depicted.

Back to Ammonite, which appears to be a non-porn story, but is being marketed heavily for the depiction of a same sex scene.

There is a lot of irony going on in this quoted article below. It portrays Kate Winslet and Saoirse as somewhat conflicted in how to discuss their new movie Ammonite which is being released this weekend, without focusing predominantly on their sex scene.

But isn’t that the hook for the film? Isn’t that the “I have a special set of skills” Liam Neeson is going to kick a$$ part that draws viewers interest?

Um, that’s like trying to focus on an action movie without talking about the fight scenes or a sci-fi masterpiece without discussing the special effects. The sex is a part of the story or else why did they put the scene in there at all? I mean, extended sex scenes in movies — hetero or gay — they should have some kind of plot point, yes/no?

Or are they only there to turn on the viewers? That’s not advancing the story, that’s viewer interaction. Get a reaction out of the viewers, make them horny. OK, but what does the sex scene mean for the story?

I’m somewhat disappointed in learning the following:

There is no evidence that Mary had a same-sex relationship—or any relationship, for that matter. There’s something revolutionary on its own that Ammonite writer-director Francis Lee decided not to make her heterosexual by default, as is society’s instinct.

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan on the Power and Joy of Filming ‘Ammonite’s’ Gay Sex Scenes

So now we’re going to have two characters that explore a lesbian sexual relationship but this was a forced, shoehorned in relationship by the writer? The real story is that there was no evidence of a same sex relationship? Sigh. This is exactly what we don’t need. Filmmakers creating gay and lesbian relationships in stories that don’t belong? I’m getting flashbacks of another unnecessary Terminator: Dark Fate being made and retelling Sarah Connor’s story, but with three Sarah Connor’s instead of one. Sigh again.

Am hoping I’m wrong.

I don’t know if that’s the way this all goes down in Ammonite or not as of this writing, so fully reserve the right to take all this back after seeing the movie. Haven’t seen it yet and still look forward to seeing it, even if it turns out that it’s exactly the way it appears.

I’m bummed to learn that the source material has apparently been altered intentionally to include a lesbian romance. That’s not the way I had understood this story to be. I thought the lead woman historically was gay and this explores her life and same sex romance. Now, I’m not so sure.

Certainly there are plenty of actual gay relationships with historical people we can tell stories about rather than to create gay stories using people that might have been gay?

Then again, maybe that’s the story the filmmaker wants to tell: the most interesting part of this historical character might very well be that she could have been gay, in the closet and afraid to share her experience with anybody except her lover.

The counter argument seems to be that the main character’s vague sexual orientation is the central story in the romance. Is that the story Ammonite will tell us? If it is, then depending on how that’s handled, that could work well.

Just shoehorning in sex scenes into any type of movie, whether hetero or gay doesn’t make much story sense to me. Yeah, I suppose from a marketing standpoint it makes great sense. See these two Hollywood actresses have simulated sex! They aren’t actually having full-on real sex. They are acting. It’s not real. Neither of these talented actresses are having real orgasms on screen (I think!) They choregraphed the scene in precise detail (see: FIRST LOOK: Ammonite).

Make the scenes integral to the story. If they are, the sex stays in. Otherwise it’s just a soft or hard porn movie. I don’t have any problem with porn — softcore or more — but if that’s what you’re doing don’t be so surprised, Kate Winslet and Saorise Ronan, ahem, that viewers like me focus and evaluate the sex scenes the way we would a porn movie. In all honesty, with all the publicity over the much-heralded sex scene between these two, that seems to be the main reason to want to watch this film. At least for this 50+ guy anyway. My wife might have other reasons to be interested in it.

Is anybody else interested in other aspects of this movie besides the sex scene? If that’s what everybody is talking about before seeing the movie, it’s the reason to see the movie. It might be the sex scene is just the appetizer, not the main course, and I suspect that will be the case. I’m feeling like this is more than the nude artist scene in Titanic with Winslet, though. Much more.

It doesn’t appear that Ammonite will be playing at any AMC theater, but it’s playing at the Galaxy theater in Federal Way, which is not too far away.

May have to see if Kara wants to go check out that theater. She may or may not, going to leave this up to her. Honestly, romance movies are more her cup of tea than mine, but I have liked some romances.

What do you think? Are sex scenes what drive you to watch movies like this? Or are you going for the romance and that requires a good sex scene? All viewpoints are welcome below to discuss this. Just keep it civil, as always.

Kate Winslet Holds Breath Underwater for 7 Minutes, World Record is Astonishing 22+ Minutes

Titanic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

If Rose had gone underwater for any length of time in Titanic, we now know she could hold her breath for some time.

True story, the actress has been tested.

Seven minutes seems forever underwater. Tom Cruise previously held the movie record for holding his breath for over six minutes in a Mission Impossible underwater scene, but Titantic goddess, Kate Winslet, has taken the new movie record in an Avatar 2 scene.

Across their various social media pages, Avatar 2 debuted a first look image of Winslet submerged in a large tank while wearing weights and filming a scene for the upcoming Avatar sequel. Winslet did not appear in the first Avatar film, and based on the image shared, she appears to be playing some sort of marine life form with what look to be wings. Filming Avatar 2 required much of its cast to shoot scenes underwater, and Winslet has gone all out preparing for her role and has described bits of her training in interviews. “I had to learn how to free-dive to play that role in Avatar,” Winslet states in an interview with THR, “and that was just incredible.” 

Kate Winslet Beats Tom Cruise’s Underwater Record In Avatar 2

I had to look up what the world record for human beings holding their breaths underwater and was shocked to learn it is over 22 minutes for a man and 18+ minutes for a woman. That’s crazy. How does someone hold their breath that long underwater? Seriously, how?!

I’m impressed with Winslet’s underwater stamina, regardless if the Avatar sequel is still over two years away and maybe another underwater scene can avail itself to a potential record breaking scene.

Six minutes, seven minutes? Crazy!

FIRST LOOK: Ammonite

An actress that is on the rise professionally is Saoirse Ronan. An actress already on top of the game is Kate Winslet. What’s better in 2020 for their careers than a romance between two characters they play?

Yes, with the trailer for Ammonite (can I stop and say I love that title), a romance, dropping Tuesday, comes the news that Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan were allowed to work out the details of the explicit sex scene between their characters.

“Saoirse and I choreographed the scene ourselves,” Winslet told THR about one of the film’s explicit sex scenes. “It’s definitely not like eating a sandwich. I just think Saoirse and I, we just felt really safe. Francis was naturally very nervous. And I just said to him, ‘Listen, let us work it out.’ And we did. ‘We’ll start here. We’ll do this with the kissing, boobs, you go down there, then you do this, then you climb up here.’ I mean, we marked out the beats of the scene so that we were anchored in something that just supported the narrative. I felt the proudest I’ve ever felt doing a love scene on ‘Ammonite.’ And I felt by far the least self-conscious.”

Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan Choreographed ‘Ammonite’ Sex Scenes | IndieWire

If the trailer doesn’t give you enough backstory, here’s the story info:

In the 1840s, acclaimed self-taught paleontologist Mary Anning works alone on the wild and brutal Southern English coastline of Lyme Regis. The days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now hunts for common fossils to sell to rich tourists to support herself and her ailing widowed mother. 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 young wife Charlotte, who is recuperating from a personal tragedy. Mary, whose life is a daily struggle on the poverty line, cannot afford to turn him down but, proud and relentlessly passionate about her work, she clashes with her unwanted guest. They are two women from utterly different worlds. Yet despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realization that they are not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.

Story info via Rotten Tomatoes

Another period piece of sorts? I’m there. Little Women sold me on Saoirse Ronan’s talent. Kate Winslet won me over with Titanic.

Ammonite opens in United States theaters on November 13, 2020.

Rose from Titanic, Kate Winslet, Teaches How To Wash Our Hands

Titanic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

How often do we get a chance to learn how to wash our hands from someone who was aboard the Titanic? Ok, well, she was an actress that played someone aboard that fateful ship, but it’s about as close as we’re going to get in 2020, because anybody and everybody that was on that boat has passed on.

Seriously, this how to is good stuff. Watch it, live it, do it. Recommended.

Thank you, Rose, er, Kate. Much appreciated. Seriously, no snark whatsoever. This is a very useful video.