Directed by:
Joe WrightScreenplay:
Christopher HamptonCinematography:
Seamus McGarveyComposer:
Dario MarianelliCast:
James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Vanessa Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn, Juno Temple, Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Kennedy (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), a childhood friend who, along with Briony's sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge. By the end of that day the lives of all three will have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had never before dared to approach and will have become victims of the younger girl's scheming imagination, and Briony will have committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will colour her entire life. (Universal Pictures UK)
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Reviews (15)
The king for the second time, and this time in a completely different way. It would be too easy and delusional to compare it to the verbose Pride and Prejudice. Atonement, on the other hand, takes a completely different approach, with only one thing in common: both films are so personal to me that they grow with every subsequent screening. And so, even though Joe Wright the director and visual perfectionist occasionally surpasses Joe Wright the storyteller, the criticisms disappear precisely because the audiovisual aspect in the grand scenes, or conversely, in the intimate ones, surpasses the majority of what I have seen in life. Except that Atonement, whose literary source material is one grand intimate psychological study, is no piece of cake to adapt into a film. Master Joe is absolutely unique among contemporary creators in one aspect: he can guide actors to such an extent that they completely merge with their characters until the screen exudes desire, love, hidden emotions, and helplessness. And I can feel how they scream right at me, and so loudly – and I understand them. At this moment, it seems to me that some atonements will be made forever. Happiness is sometimes terribly far away.
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It is surprising that at a time when filmmakers sully one quality book after another that for several years now, adaptations of the works of Ian McEwan have been successful, that you very much. Each of the five adaptations of his works so far worked well and three of them very well. And that includes Atonement which, while not being his best, is McEwan’s best known novel. Joe Wright is growing into a big name of contemporary cinema. And if you think that McAvoy is just a pretty boy with a sexy accent, this movie will set you right. You don’t often see so many powerful scenes linked together into one effective whole that works on several levels at once. And the fact that Atonement just happens to rag you through all shades of emotional feelings is just icing on the cake.
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One subconsciously expects a dose of kitsch and one gets it. But if he is not a cynic, he is sure to be swept away by all the splendor of the images and the story. Joe Wright has gotten rid of his only flaw - character confusion - and delivers a conscious and distinguished spectacle that has so much heart that the viewer's emotions at times can't keep up. The mixture of laughter and sadness creates one of the most romantic experiences in modern cinema. I’d also like to point out that Keira's sweet face has finally grown into a character actress and Joe Wright is the current No. 1 talent int he UK - even Brian De Palma would have admired him for that fantastic steady-cam on the beach.
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The category of believability was actually key for me. Atonement contains scenes that I would call captivating without hesitating. Those few minutes of war scenes are among the best and most cinematic choices I've ever seen on the subject. Without a single shot fired, with the extraordinary weight on the expressive power of images, without embellishment, without pathetic words that one would certainly find in an American production... In a refined form, the film is simply able to engage and draw one into the plot, offering first-class visual enjoyment of the story. The film is able to arouse sympathy thanks to well-acted characters. The only, but fundamental failure of Wright's melodrama is, from my point of view, the story, which, with its schematic nature, suffocated everything civil and literally pushed me in front of it, preventing me from fully entering the story, identifying with it and sympathizing with it. At the end, which upgrades everything to a tragic crescendo, I was only watching the film with the non-participation of the observer, who rejects the offered catharsis. This is undoubtedly a strong moment, in which, it turns out, the only real atonement of Briony is the lingering belief in the cleansing power of fabrication, and I experienced it with my head rather than my heart. From my point of view, Wright's film suffered the most from verbosity and unnecessary strumming of emotions, whereas it would have been enough to let the film speak through its specific means and not dictate a high level of literacy and sweet-soured phrases (however sympathetic they are to me, these phrases refer more to classical English literature than to the Hollywood tradition). This is, of course, my personal problem, but I think there are a few of us who are unaffected by the film. And that is not a coincidence. [6.5/10]
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To be quite sincere, I’ve never liked this type of movie much, but this time I’m glad that I decided to make an exception and watch this one. Atonement is a wartime drama that has much more inside it than it seems at first glance. And the standard of the acting performances and directing make it impossible for me to give it anything less than a full set of stars.
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Gallery (53)
Photo © Working Title Films
![Atonement - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/162/346/162346999_6d7063.jpg)
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