Directed by
Joe Wright
130 minutes
Rated MA
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Atonement
Synopsis: Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) is a 13-year-old aspiring writer with a big imagination. She and her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley), live a upper-class privileged life in England in 1935. Briony has a crush on Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), who is the housekeeper’s son. One hot day Briony witnesses things she doesn’t understand between Cecilia and Robbie and this leads her to accusing the young man of a terrible crime. The upshot of this will resonate throughout the rest of their lives.Atonement is an adaptation of a best-selling novel, and word is, that it’s been faithful to the original. The film is structured in three parts – the hot summer’s day at the Tallis mansion, Robbie’s experience of Dunkirk as a soldier in the British army and the later years in Briony’s life, both as an18-year-old nurse (Romola Garai) during WW2 and an older woman, now a writer (Vanessa Redgrave).
Director Joe Wright has already directed one successful period piece in Pride and Prejudice, also using Keira Knightley as his lead actor. No one could dispute that his latest venture in the style looks absolutely beautiful, with elegant sets, beautiful English countryside, languid afternoon teas, rustling dresses, London war scenes, and an impressive segment in Dunkirk which features an already much-talked-about continuous tracking shot of surreal goings-on.
Can you sense a “but” coming? Firstly, Atonement feels like so many similar films of its ilk. Secondly the three time periods do not marry as smoothly as tehy should. The very self-conscious use of typewriter keys as a device that is taken up by the music is too overbearing, and generally the film is so self-consciously “arty” and “old world” that it seems to be drawing attention to its style rather than its content. Even the Dunkirk scenes seemed like something out of a surrealist painting rather than a representation of the horrors of war. But the biggest disappointment was my lack of emotional engagement with the story. With its unabashed targeting of the tear ducts I should have been snuffling if not sobbing, but I remained dry-eyed throughout. I found the young Briony such an unsympathetic character with a remote coldness, and Knightley’s Cecilia too much like so many characters I’ve seen before in films just like this one. It was not until the young nurse Briony comes to the screen, that I began to feel any sense of rapport with the characters.
Nevertheless, my reservations aside, Atonement is well-acted and finely crafted with strong performances by every cast member, major and minor. Maybe I simply expected something different and well beyond the usual from a film that is getting so much attention. Perhaps a second viewing would enlighten me as to why that is so.
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