Atonement (2007) Movie Review

Atonement: Bending Reality

“Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to... depend greatly on our own point of view.”

-- Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

“I am very, very sorry for the terrible distress that I have caused you. I am very, very sorry...”

-- Briony Tallis from Atonement

What we think we see is not always what we see. This is the central theme of Joe Wright’s astonishing film version of Ian McEwan’s Atonement. Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons and The Quiet American) wrote the screenplay. The truth is fluid. At the heart of Atonement, there is a distortion of the truth. Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), a precocious thirteen year old girl, is an aspiring writer. The Tallis family lives on a beautiful, sprawling estate in the English countryside. In the glorious summer of 1935, Briony observes the romance between her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and a servant’s son, Robbie (James McAvoy) whose Oxford education was provided by the sisters’ father. Briony has a fierce and vivid imagination. She does not understand what is going on between her sister and Robbie. This misunderstanding leads her to identify Robbie as the executor of a crime. Her misunderstanding has horrific consequences for everyone involved. She has no knowledge of adult behavior and passion. The ripple effects will span several decades causing endless pain and mental suffering.

Atonement is a beautiful looking film. The English countryside and the Tallis estate look as sumptuous and inviting as they have ever looked before. Seamus McGarvey treats every shot as a landscape. Within these visuals, beautiful things come to life. There is something extraordinary about Keira Knightley in this film and in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice; where the camera seems to adore her much more than it ever did in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. As Cecilia, she is given a role where she never overstays her welcome. Her scenes with James McAvoy’s Robbie are short, but passionate. McAvoy is every bit her onscreen equal. Like Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, there is a definite onscreen chemistry between the two. Her actions throughout the film say enough. Ms. Knightley has an ethereal sexiness that has been prevalent since Bend It Like Beckham. In one scene, she rises from a fountain like Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. As Cecilia, she proves her beauty is unique.

As Robbie Turner, James McAvoy delivers on the promise of his role as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King Of Scotland. McAvoy was pleasant in Starter For Ten and Becoming Jane. He was a delight as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. With Atonement, he enters David Niven and Ralph Fiennes territory. Yes, he is that good in the film. After Robbie is convicted of a crime he did not commit, he is sent off to prison. World War II begins and Robbie is given the choice to stay in prison or fight in the British Army. When we see Robbie again, he is in Northern French countryside. The British forces are retreating. Robbie’s journey takes him to Dunkirk. The chaos of the British evacuation at Dunkirk is told through a magnificent five minute steadicam shot. This five minute shot is reminiscent of Sergio Leone’s work in Once Upon A Time In The West, Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. The horror, chaos and devastation of war are on full display in these five minutes. The sequence does not work as a trite polemic, but a full blown indictment of eternal human folly. The film begs to be seen in a theater for this scene alone. As Robbie is making his way to Dunkirk, he stops in a movie theater showing Marcel Carne’s 1938 film, Port Of Shadows starring Jean Gabin and Michele Morgan. I could not think of a more appropriate film to be playing as Robbie enters Dunkirk. The film is about a military deserter who finds love and danger in a French port city. In a couple of more years, I think James McAvoy could have Jean Gabin stature.

The core of Atonement’s success rests with the three portrayals of Briony Tallis. The first third of the film, Briony is played by Saoirse Ronan at thirteen years old. It is here where Briony’s misunderstanding of the human condition has life altering consequences for the whole Tallis and Turner families. Her perception of the reality is a perverse distortion. She sees only what she wants to see. Was it her crush on Robbie that caused this perverted vision? Was she jealous of Cecilia? This is the ultimate version of cherry picking information. The results are tragic. When World War II begins, Cecilia is a nurse in London. Briony (Romola Garai) is in training to be a nurse as well. She is still an aspiring writer. It is in this segment that the nature of storytelling comes into focus. Can storytelling rectify the mistakes of the past? Briony is writing a novel about the unfortunate events of that summer. This is her atonement. She believes that by writing the truth she can wash away her sins and make everything all right again. Sadly, life is not that simple. Cecilia refuses to see her. One cannot blame her? Briony will spend her full life trying to atone for actions during that summer. In the end, Vanessa Redgrave play’s the older Briony. She is a famous novelist who has written a novel called Atonement. In these scenes, we see that the writer believes that he or she is God. They want to make everything right-- the novel as the ultimate panacea.

Briony is a metaphor for England as well. While the title certainly refers to the trials and tribulations of Briony Tallis, I believe the title also refers to England. The atonement of a nation that helped appease Adolf Hitler under Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. The horror that comes with having to evacuate the European continent under the Nazi menace. Yet, the British (Robbie) promise to come back to right this horrible wrong with the rest of the Allied Forces. England, like Briony, made horrible choices that had far reaching consequences. They misunderstood the monsters right at their door. Atonement is an astonishing testament to the need to right the wrongs in our lives.