Movie Rewind - Atonement
November 19th 2007 06:39
Based on Ian McEwan’s 2001 Booker prize nominated novel, Atonement tells the story of a wealthy upper-class English family, starting just before WWII. One spiteful act by the family’s youngest daughter sparks a tragedy, and the Atonement of the title is her wish to make amends for her actions for the rest of her life. Time magazine voted the novel the best of the year, and included it in its All Time Best 100 novels.
With a pedigree like that, the film needed a classy hand at the helm to do justice to a complex and character-driven novel. Londoner Joe Wright, whose parents founded a puppet theatre and with an art background is a newcomer to directing, but his previous movie was Pride and Prejudice, which was nominated for four Academy Awards and six BAFTAs. With Atonement, he has done an even better job. When the movie opened the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Joe Wright became the youngest director ever to open the festival, at the age of 35. He drew a stellar cast together, including Keira Knightly (Pirates of the Carribean and Pride and Prejudice), James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland and Becoming Jane) and a very moving cameo from Vanessa Redgrave.
In a nutshell, 13 year Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) is in love with gardener’s son, Robbie (McAvoy), but he is in love with her older sister Cecilia (Knightly). Her jealousy and youth make her mis-understand some of the interactions she observes, and her feelings of spite lead her to making a terrible false accusation against Robbie. The film progresses through to the war years, when Robbie and Cecilia meet again. It’s impossible to fully review the movie without giving away too much of the plot, and although the emotions stand alone, it’s better to see it without any expectations.
The passionate love and anger portrayed by McAvoy and Knightly are wholly convincing. Knightly has a vehicle that could have been written for her, and apart from occasionally losing her cut-glass vowels, she has an opportunity to show more depth in her acting than her previous movies. The sinister villain of the piece, Paul Marshall, played by the wonderfully named Benedict Cumberbatch, is believably sleazy, and all the supporting roles are spot-on.
Although the Dunkirk scenes are perhaps a few minutes too long, Wright’s art background is never more obvious than here. Drained of colour, with an incongruous yet pointed funfair in the background, the grimness of war, waiting, death, pain are all painted onto the screen.
Stunningly acted, brilliantly directed, and beautifully shot, Atonement is highly recommended. With Vanessa Redgrave’s final, movie-stealing portrayal of the elderly Briony Tallis as the last (and lasting) images of the film, you may find it difficult to leave the cinema with a dry eye.
It probably is more of a women’s movie, but the thought-provoking premise (that you may never have chance to make atonement, that you should not act out of malice, and that you should make things right as hard as it may be as guilt is unbearable to live with) is one that speaks to all of us.
Now, you may want to take your maiden aunt, so be warned – there is a very rude word mentioned frequently at the start of the movie, and some of the war scenes are fairly graphic.
Enjoy – a grown up and thoughtful piece of film-making.
Review by Michele Clark
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