Film Review: Atonement
Joe Wright 2007. Starring Kiera Knightly, James McAvoy
A young girl's vivid imagination leads to devastating consequences in this adaptation of the novel by Ian McEwan.
Atonement begins on the hottest day of the year, 1935, at the Gothic Victorian mansion where the Tallis family live in great wealth and privilege. Thirteen year old Briony Tallis (played with unsettling intensity by the young Irish actress Soairse Ronan) is a young writer with a vivid imagination. Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) is the housekeeper’s son who is also the lover of Briony’s older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightly). Through a series of misunderstandings, Briony accuses Robbie of a crime he did not commit, with disastrous ramifications for all three.
Joe Wright demonstrates emotional complexity
Director Joe Wright, whose previous credits include Pride and Prejudice (2005), has created a compelling film. He does justice to Ian McEwan’s superb novel while retaining in the film an identity and integrity of its own. Atonement shows an emotional complexity in dealing with tough subjects – morality, war and the corrosive British class system -which lifts it far above the standard cinematic fare. The flaws which ruin so many potentially excellent films: a good idea poorly executed, the gripping first hour that peters out into mediocrity and a weak ending are refreshingly absent here.
At the centre point of the film is a five and a half minute tracking shot in which Wright shows thousands of Allied soldiers, in various states of drunkenness and disillusionment, awaiting the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Although the sequence is remarkable, there has been some debate about whether it detracts from the rest of the film by showcasing the technical skill of Wright and the director of photography Seamus McGarvey rather than highlighting the horrors of being in Dunkirk at that time. Nonetheless, Wright and McGarvey have created a work of great visual power, from the English summer, in all its hazy and sensuous beauty, to the stark and grimy depiction of war at home and abroad.
Recognition for impressive performances
The film has received seven Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. There have also been nominations for James McAvoy, Keira Knightly and Soairse Ronan for Best Actor (Drama), Best Actress (Drama) and Best Supporting Actress respectively, reflecting the high standard of the performances. Romola Garai, as the eighteen-year-old Briony struggling to make sense of the terrible damage she has done, gives a strong but understated performance. As the film progresses we feel compassion for characters we may initially have found hard to like. The final twist in the story is delivered by veteran British actor Vanessa Redgrave as the older Briony. As she faces her death, her reflections on her life and the results of her actions are deeply moving.
