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Dir: Joe Wright.
Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan
Description: In the baking hot summer of 1935, England stands on the brink of war, and families prepare to bid farewell to fathers and sons. Aspiring writer Briony Tallis escapes harsh reality with her wealthy family at their Victorian Gothic mansion in the countryside. A terrible misunderstanding leads to Briony accusing the housekeeper's son, Robbie Turner, of a crime he did not commit. Forcibly removed from the house, and taken away from his lover Cecilia, Briony's sister, Robbie embarks on a momentous journey from the battlefields back to the woman he loves.
Country: UK. 2007. 122mins
Revelation: Keira Knightley's performance is subtle and arousing
Expectation: Atonement is a postmodern romance
Joe Wright's exquisite-looking period drama boasts a best-of-British cast that includes Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave. So far, so respectable. Yet the most explosive role is taken by a certain anatomical word beginning with c - we hear it spoken aloud, see it in big print. Like the Ian McEwan bestseller to which it is so faithful, Atonement delights in betraying our expectations.
The script, by Christopher Hampton, presents us with three wonderfully sympathetic central characters. Wealthy Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) has a crush on the housekeeper's gifted son, Robbie (McAvoy). What comes between them is age (Briony is just 13 years old) and Briony's older sister, the brusquely beautiful Cecilia ( Knightley) - who, like Robbie, has just graduated from Cambridge.
On a hot day in 1935, Briony stands at the window of her Surrey mansion and watches, gimlet-eyed, as Robbie and Cecilia apparently row in the grounds below. Later that day, she gets her hands on a letter addressed to Cecilia - not the apology Robbie meant to send, but a declaration of lust featuring that crude word. Briony is horrified and, later that night, witnesses something that leads her to misidentify Robbie as a paedophile rapist. Her story is believed and Robbie is sent to prison. Five years later the older Briony (played now by Garai) hears that Robbie has been sent to fight in France. Can she put right the wrong she has done?
All the cast are good, but it's Knightley who knits everything together. In fact, her performance is a revelation. Although clearly talented (check out her turn in horror thriller The Hole, as a hysterical anorexic teen), the 22-year-old has recently developed a few unfortunate tics. As in: when in doubt, pout. She's far more subtle, and genuinely arousing, here.
Her Cecilia is simultaneously a tantalising dream - a figment of her sister and lover's imaginations - and as real as a clenched fist. It's easy to swoon over her haughty couture and revel in the cinematography that makes her look as if she's floating on air. And yet, as Joe Wright and his team make clear, to do so is to embrace a fantasy, to misrepresent Cecilia as much as Briony misrepresents Robbie.
The Dunkirk sections of the movie are less convincing; the tableaux created feel like something out of a very ambitious school play. The sections involving Briony's harrowing hospital work are also a tad conventional - it's when she goes to visit Cecilia, and later, as an old woman, tells us more about this visit, that the film flares into life.
Atonement works best as a riposte to all those films that put high-society women on a pedestal; classic Hollywood rom-coms like The Philadelphia Story, and more recent Brit hits such as The English Patient. It's a film about the fictions we weave around our idols and the real-life damage those fictions can do. Look beyond the pretty pictures, says Wright - even the ones in this film. This is the dark thread that runs throughout Atonement, a postmodern romance and one of the finest British films of the year.
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I was stunned by Atonement. It's a gorgeous, inspiring movie. Joe Wright did a fantastic job with every aspect of the movie. I found the strongest performance to come from Keira Knightley. Her Cecilia is so fragile, and emotionally stunted and she plays the character beautifully and subtly, exactly the way Cecilia should be played. Kudos Keira!
- Miriam, Ottawa, Canada
I thought Atonement was an amazing film - like films used to be. The director's vision was expertly interpreted by the actors. I was entranced the whole way through and in floods of tears at the end. Deeply moving, insightful, sensitive. Excellent.
- Teri Adshead, Llandudno, North Wales
I saw Atonement yesterday and thought it was one of the best films I've seen this year - beautifully shot, excellently acted and a powerful story - perfect! Have been recommending it all day to friends.
- Naomi, London
Last week, I went to see Atonement and was quite literally stunned into mesmerised awe. This film is an astounding achievement on every level. James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave in particular turned in excellent performances. There are so many good shots in this film, it's hard to keep count, not to mention the superb direction of the 'soldiers on the beach' scene, and the close up work was simply amazing. I think if you wanted to be credited as the director of a film, you couldn't do much better than this. All sorts of hats off to Joe Wright. I am still utterly gobsmacked. Incredible.
- Justin Carroll, London, England
Blimey - Keira smoking a fag in a film... I thought such things were banned now by the PC brigade. That single image will do more for smoking's cool image than a million cancerous lungs on a packet of Marlboro will to stop people having a puff.
- Squiz, Islington
Tonight:
9°c
