You can only imagine the truth.
When Briony Tallis, 13 years old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed when in fact it was a visitor to the estate.
Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Romance, War
Runtime: 123 minutes
Rating: 7.9/10 (65,815 votes)
Release Date: 29 August 2007
Country: UK, France
Languages: English, French
Company: Universal Pictures
Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated R for disturbing war images, language and some sexuality.
Director(s): Joe Wright
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Producer(s):
Tim Bevan - producer
Liza Chasin - executive producer
Richard Eyre - executive producer
Eric Fellner - producer
Robert Fox - executive producer
Jane Frazer - co-producer
Debra Hayward - executive producer
Ian McEwan - executive producer
Paul Webster - producer
Writer(s):
Ian McEwan - (novel)
Christopher Hampton - (screenplay)
Cast:
Saoirse Ronan - Briony Tallis - Age 13
Ailidh Mackay - Singing Housemaid
Brenda Blethyn - Grace Turner
Julia West - Betty
James McAvoy - Robbie Turner
Harriet Walter - Emily Tallis
Keira Knightley - Cecilia Tallis
Juno Temple - Lola Quincey
Felix von Simson - Pierrot Quincey
Charlie von Simson - Jackson Quincey
Music: Dario Marianelli
Tim Bevan - producer
Liza Chasin - executive producer
Richard Eyre - executive producer
Eric Fellner - producer
Robert Fox - executive producer
Jane Frazer - co-producer
Debra Hayward - executive producer
Ian McEwan - executive producer
Paul Webster - producer
Writer(s):
Ian McEwan - (novel)
Christopher Hampton - (screenplay)
Cast:
Saoirse Ronan - Briony Tallis - Age 13
Ailidh Mackay - Singing Housemaid
Brenda Blethyn - Grace Turner
Julia West - Betty
James McAvoy - Robbie Turner
Harriet Walter - Emily Tallis
Keira Knightley - Cecilia Tallis
Juno Temple - Lola Quincey
Felix von Simson - Pierrot Quincey
Charlie von Simson - Jackson Quincey
Music: Dario Marianelli
Posted on: December 13, 2007
May 30th, 2009
The story of Joe Wright's film 'Atonement' starts as romantic andsocial drama in the setting of a 1930s high class mansion, very similarto the one of 'Easy Virtue'. The rich elder daughter of the owners ofthe estate Cecilia (Keira Knightley) falls in love with handsome andclever Robbie (James McAvoy) the son of the janitor and the two live ashort and passionate affair which is brutally interrupted by Briony theyoung sister of Cecilia, a confused but imaginative teenager whomisreads some of the scenes she is witnessing and sends to jail Robbiefor a crime that he did not commit.
The next part of the story happens in Europe at the start of the secondworld war. Robbie has won his way out of prison volunteering to serveas simple soldier in the army, and lives the tragedy of war and thedays of the debacle of Dunquerque. His moral anchor is a short meetinghe had with Cecilia and the hope to get back his love and life.
In the third segment we meet again Briony, out of her troubled years,and starting to understand the evil she had made to her sister and hersister's lover. She renounced the easy life at the estate and studiesat Cambridge, has volunteered as a nurse to do some good, and tries tocontact her sister to get forgiveness and fix the evil she has done byrecognizing that her accusations were false. But is atonementsufficient and can evil deeds be undone in real life? Or canimagination compensate for what destiny has decided to happen in reallife? Is it actually destiny, or hazards and misunderstandings of reallife that govern what happens?
It is the final segment of the story that will provide answers. Brionybecomes the real hero of the story, with her permanent alternationbetween imagination and reality, with her tentative to takeresponsibility and get absolution from deeds she committed long timeago but which need to be with her for the rest of her life. The finalkey scene gives a different perspective to the whole story and this isprobably reflecting the structure of the narration in the originalnovel.
There are two scenes of beautiful cinema in this film – the run in theforest in the first part of the film and the long shot scene on thebeach of Dunquerque bringing to life the debacles of war – and the nameof the director of cinematography Seamus McGarvey must be mentioned inthis context. Out of a fine cast I liked most James McAvoy who bringsto screen personality and charm to match the beauty and talent of KeiraKnightley, and Vanessa Redgrave with a moving performance as oldBriony, a role that fits her perfectly.
I did not read Ian McEwan's book, but the quality and intensity of thestory can be felt in the script of 'Atonement'. Director Joe Wrightuses a couple of times an interesting technique of playing the samescenes from the perspective of different characters, emphasizing therole of perception (real or false) in the story. As a viewer I had thefeeling that this time we may be in the case of an adaptation to screenthat succeeds to be true to the spirit and quality of a good book.
June 8th, 2009
This is a remarkably audacious and original film experience. Playingwith typical "period" set pieces and devices before descending intowhat could only be described as a post-modern hell, it deliberatelyangers and frustrates the audience by not only with-holding vitalinformation but by offering false information and later cynicallydashing viewers' hopes by grabbing them back. Such an effort could beruined by general confusion and mis-placed intentions if the entirefilm wasn't so thoroughly polemical and even critical of its primarycharacters. In the end, the film titled "Atonement" seems in some senseto be about the impossibility of such a glowing emotion, and the film'spurpose seems to be to tantalize the audience with the possibility ofredemption and peace while perpetually dangling it out of reach likethe proverbial carrot in front of the mule.
The basic plot setup is as heartbreaking as it is simple — a younggirl of privilege named Briony (Saoirse Ronan) mis-interprets andmis-represents events which she has witnessed in order to frame a youngcharge of her father's estate (James McAvoy) with a rape which heclearly did not commit. His lover, Briony's sister Cecilia (KeiraKnightley) is left with an abiding bitterness towards her sister andher entire family for their class-based complicity in the frame-up.Robbie (McAvoy) enlists in the army to get out of prison, leading to aseparation that tears the lovers' lives apart and leaves Briony (playedin the middle section by Romola Garai and in the final portion byVanessa Redgrave) without any outlet for her growing regret andself-loathing.
What's really profound about the film, in my opinion, is the fact thateven Briony's relatively mature need for "atonement" is a form ofself-indulgence. She can't live with herself anymore — but why shouldCecilia or Robbie care about that? What could she actually offer them,to make up for so much that she has taken away? As the film graduallyreveals through flashbacks that even at the tender age of 13 Briony'smotivations were confused by sexual jealousy, our sympathy for hercharacter dissipates even as our sense of the overall tragedy deepens.The audience is driven further and further from sympathy with Briony,and yet we cannot for a moment doubt the sincerity of her desire to sether wrongs to right. It is the impossibility of this atonement, morethan the lovers' sad fate, that really forms the heart of the tragedy.Even in the final portions of the film with Redgrave playing an elderlyBriony who has now sought to give the lovers some form of atonement bygiving them an artificial "happy ending" through her semi-autobiographyof the events, we are subtly led by the writers and the director torealize that she has still never atoned for the evil that she did. Noneof this is by way of making Briony an inhuman or an uncaring person –tragedy in its high and classical sense requires not simply sadness butthe impossible longing for a higher character than we can achieve ashumans. Briony did the best that she could at all times, but it wasnever enough to erase a decision that had already been made and whoseconsequences had already been felt.
The performances by McAvoy, Knightley, and Garai are particularlyeffective and memorable. There is never a moment where the actors andactresses put themselves above the material. The director's style is attimes a bit showy, particularly in the Dunkirk beach sequences, butthese scenes are so gorgeous and effective that any consciousness ofthe film process must be overcome by the sheer power of the images.There are a few scenes that seemed un-necessary or ill-placed to me,especially a sequence with McAvoy discovering slaughtered children in afield. But McAvoy's performance in that scene is so powerful that onceagain I'm inclined to overlook any kind of misplaced emphasis and tosimply admit that what works can't be fixed. This is the rarest kind ofgreat film — a film that leaves us with a truly profound sadness, asadness that is only enhanced by the beauty and grace of theproceedings. To think that we as human beings can reach so far, andgrasp so little.
July 12th, 2009
'You can only imagine the truth.'
On a hot summer's day in the 1930s in the grounds of an English manorhouse, Bryony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), a budding author aged 13, tells adamaging lie about Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the lover of her oldersister Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley). The lie changes all theirlives, with consequences that extend beyond World War II.
This remarkably lavish, visually ravishing film does full justice toIan McEwan's brilliant, detailed source novel. Director Joe Wrightskilfully evokes the atmosphere of languid lust in the first act, andsurpasses himself with a nightmarish evocation of the chaos and miseryon the beach at Dunkirk, brought to life in a single five-minutetracking shot. A short triumphant coda with Vanessa Redgrave as anolder, successful Bryony, voicing her regrets, confirms Atonement as ararity: a sumptuous spectacle with vast reserves of intelligence. DarioMarianelli's lush, romantic score includes a theme featuring thetapping of typewriter keys, a reminder that this is a story aboutstorytelling. Atonement is ambitious, terrifically acted, moving andfor the most part transcends its status as a historical drama.
July 19th, 2009
To put it bluntly, this film is a virulent mess. I mean, who would'vethunk it? After Joe Wright's shimmering triumphs in "Pride andPrejudice" and "Charles II: The Power and the Passion"? And this cast?And this Ian McEwan storyline worthy of Graham Greene? And a BestPicture BAFTA?
It stinks, and here's how it apparently happened. Wright's floridcinematics worked well in his earlier two enterprises because of thestrengths of the characters and the compelling story lines that held agreat deal of interest via action and resulting character development.In this film, we find a context of greater introversion and subtlety,and the hope was that Wright would tone things down a little. Instead,he goes the opposite way, attempting to create a singular grafting ofcamera and musical themes (including typewriter key sounds) thatdefines rather than underpins the film.
Joe Wright is not Darren Aranovsky, however. And ultimately, the resultis gratingly self-conscious and infuriatingly pretentious, consistentlyturning scenes into deflating "look-at-this" exercises. And if thisisn't enough, Wright attempts to turn the story into an cinematic"epic", apparently wishing to rival "The English Patient" and "For WhomThe Bell Tolls" in scope and detail. McEwan's story doesn't lend itselfwell to this treatment, so the film collapses under massively detailedexpositions of WWII and other events that contribute nothing to thestory. The expositions themselves don't even ring true, and the plot'sfinal twist almost seems anticlimactic under all of that weight.
Ultimately, my distaste for the enterprise led me into thefast-forward/laugh mode – fast-forwarding through the endless yawningpits of the superfluous landscape while laughing at the overall lostmotivation of the film. I haven't done this with a major motion picturesince "Braveheart", but with "Braveheart", I was laughing at the film'sunintentionally hilarious content, not at its overall motivations.
2 Stars, and hopefully the nadir of a very talented director's career.
July 24th, 2009
A good adaptation of a British novel. The movie is for people who arelooking for some intense drama and a touching romantic film.
The movie starts through the eyes of a girl aged 13 of the affairbetween her elder sister and her lover. And, her misinterpretation of aseries of events which changes the course of all three of their lives.The visuals of the movie depicting the country-side are very pleasing.At the same time, it also depicts the suffering of the British soldiersduring the World War II in a heart wrenching way.
The movie in some frames moves back and forth and some frames movepretty fast. So, watch out for it. The highlight of the movie is itslast thirty-forty minutes. At the end of the movie you would say, "Wesimply don't have any control of most of the things in our lives andthere is no atonement for some mistakes".