Post a Comment        E-mail To A Friend        Join The List

Joe Wright, Atonement

by Kathryn Durfee
12/20/2007

I've known it for years: no good comes from having a younger sibling. Joe Wright's new film Atonement, based on the best-seling British romance by Ian McEwan, shows just how much a young girl's misunderstanding can affect the future.

The film opens just as any period piece based in the 1930s does: a beautiful mansion in the English countryside equipped with a grand front yard, swimming pond, and a strapping young servant boy. Looking through her bedroom window one day, fledgling writer Briany (age 13 at the beginning of the story) sees an erotically-charged encounter between her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and the servant's well-educated son Robbie (James McAvoy). After intercepting a secret letter and finding them together, Briany misconstrues their relationship, tells a lie of epic proportions, and sends young Robbie to jail for a crime he did not commit, irrevocably changing the lives of all three forever.

Four years later, we find Robbie fighting in the war in France, having been given the choice of staying in jail or signing up. Cecilia, disgusted by her family's reaction to the events leading to Robbie's arrest, has left home to become a nurse. Briany, now older but not much more mature, has just begun to realize the full weight and effect of her lie. She is also working as a nurse, eschewing higher education perhaps because of guilt and the desire to repent for what she did years before.

Whereas most tragic romances are the result of the unworthiness of one of the two lovers, Atonement is the tale of two individuals that not only loved each other, but deserved each other, and whose love was torn apart by a third party before it could even take root. The story is heart-wrenching, depressing, and painful to watch. It is, however, also one of the best stories not only to be told on paper but also on the screen. The ending, though truly sad, is a bit of a twist (unless of course you've read the novel), a final plea for forgiveness.

Director Joe Wright lends to Atonement the same attention to detail and delicate handling of a past time that he gave to his last feature, the award-winning Pride and Prejudice (also starring Keira Knightley). The film is beautifully shot and is filled with haunting images such as Robbie, the lonely soldier, wandering through a field of bright red poppies and Cecilia standing alone in the fog as her lover is taken away just shortly after they make love for the first time.

Atonement unfurls in a non-linear fashion; the timeline jumps around a bit, but not enough to annoy or confuse. Events are also replayed in reverse and from other perspectives in order to show the audience both what Briany sees - or thinks she sees - and what actually transpired. This feature is actually quite brilliant, as the viewer is first put in Briany's shoes and is unsure of what he or she is watching. Seeing what actually transpired then not only clarifies the story but further reveals how much pain is actually caused by Briany's mistake.

The soundtrack also helps to create an unsettling feeling throughout the entire film. Heartbreaking and delicate pianos are blended with the ominous and threatening sound of typewriter keys being struck, recalling the machine that both led to the initial misunderstanding and will hopefully eventually make up for this young girl's seemingly unforgivable mistake.

Keira Knightley, laying down her pirate sword and hat to go back in time to the high-class life and beautiful dresses of the pre-war years, plays Cecilia boldly and maturely. Though she doesn't understand her feelings for Robbie at the start of the film, she confidently stands up to her family for Robbie by leaving them behind to wait for him to return. Her role is surprisingly small here; more focus is given to her younger sibling, played first as Saorise Ronan and later as Romola Garai. Both actresses portray Briany as weak, timid, and immature. By the end of the film, she is downright loathsome for what she has done. James McAvoy, seen previously as the fawn in The Chronicles of Narnia, comes into his own as a leading man. His kind eyes and nervous nature perfectly portray the head-over-heels Robbie, who, like Inman in Cold Mountain, wants only to make it through the war so that he can return to the arms of his lover.

Overall, Atonement is a whirlwind film that grabs your heart in the first few moments but then runs with it, pulling it in every direction. More than a romance, more than a sweeping war picture, this is a story clashes between immaturity and maturity, love and war, and guilt and the unwillingness to forgive. Atonement has been nominated for six Golden Globe awards and will certainly be one of the films to beat come Oscar season. It is written, directed, and acted to absolute perfection and is a must-see for the winter season.

Name
Email
URL
Body
Are you human?