AtonementA powerful film about lost love, a deliberate lie and its shattering consequences, but with an aftertaste of injustice.
This is a dark period drama based upon Ian McEwan's searing novel of lost love, a deliberate lie, and shattering consequences. One simmering hot summer day in 1935, on the sumptuous grounds of an English manor, the privileged lives of two teenage girls take an abrupt turn for disaster. Atonement begins with 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) typing a play on romance. The intensity with which the typewriter keys are heard at the start of the film announces that this is no Jane Austen adaptation, like director Joe Wright's popular "Pride and Prejudice". There is an air of oppression and looming sense of foreboding which permeates the lush green fields and imposing mansion. Young Briony is infatuated with Robbie, the housekeeper's son, who has just graduated from Cambridge and looks forward to medical school. Robbie carries a torch for her older sister, without yet realizing that she burns for him as well. The heat seems to alter the behaviour of the girls, stretching Briony's emotions into dangerous taughtness, as well as those of her impulsive older sister, 18 year old Cecilia (Kiera Knightly). Cecilia has a disturbing interlude with Robbie at the fountain and Briony, looking on, is scandalised. In a masterful stroke we see this scene first from the perplexed 13-year-old's perspective and then from Cecilia and Rob's, which shows it to be more innocent than it first appears. The stage is set for emotional confusion and unbridled lust. Briony's dismay is compounded by an explicit sexual word dramatically typed in a note which Robbie crumples. He then retypes a more acceptable note, mistakenly giving her the dirty letter to deliver to Cecilia. Briony peers at the letter, and is deeply offended, (she wasn't the only one; I heard sharp intakes of breath as the four letter word was typed in close-up on the screen) and in her scandalised jealously brands Robbie a "sex maniac" who is a danger to women. Robbie continues dressing for an elegant dinner at the mansion, blithely unaware of the shockwaves caused by his ill-advised missive. Cecilia, angry about the note, confronts Robbie at the house, igniting their concealed passions, and leading to an intense sex scene in the library. That the two declare their love as part of the act is lost on young Briony, who is mortified to walk in on them, and bursts into tears. The young girl, whose aloof mother is oblivious to her agony, breaks under the anguish of her destroyed innocence and shattered romantic aspirations, and turns spiteful, accusing Robbie of a sexual assault which she knows he did not commit. This is a powerful tale of passion and betrayal; the consequences of that sweltering night burden the participants for their entire tragic lives. Little sister Briony is largely seen as the only character whose sin needs atonement. We see her at 18, played by the mesmerizing Romula Garai, serving in a military hospital, paying for her perjury by humble service and spartan living. The power of words, both written and spoken, is a central theme in Atonement, and we see Briony at the end of her life, a successful novelist (played by the eternally tragic Vanessa Redgrave), using her vivid imagination and facility with words to right the wrongs she has done. An interesting parallel is drawn between her deception and the British newsreel which attempts to put a positive spin on the evacuation of Dunkirk. We are spared no details of the horrors of that event in a wrenching scene of the bloody wounds and the low morale of the soldiers on the beach awaiting evacuation. Even the enduring love of Cecilia and Robbie cannot conquer the enormity of the consequences of Briony's betrayal; it brings home the adage that "The wages of sin are death". The film's director uses sound and perspective powerfully to make this a singularly powerful film. However, there is an injustice in it which disturbed me. It was Cecilia and Robbie's act of fornication, and a sexual assault on her young friend, both of which were witnessed in the same evening by Briony, a young virgin who brutally lost her innocence in a single evening, driving her to rancor and revenge. No blame is placed upon the couple or on Briony's distant mother, who failed to comfort her, and we are left with unfulfilled justice at the real assailant as he continues to lead his charmed life. Perhaps Briony is burdened with atoning for the whole sorry lot. Vivid clothed sexual encounter, offensive four letter word, and gory battlefield wounds should keep all but mature adults from seeing this film. Leticia Velasquez is a regular film reviewer for MercatorNet. She writes from New York. |
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Directed by Joe Wright | 130 minutes | Rating: R
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Kiera Knightly, James McAvoy
Comments (4)
mtm said...Do you mean “Mature” as in old, deaf, and nearsighted? Shouldn’t vivid sexual encounters be avoided by the mature connoisseur?
-- | Saturday, 2 February 2008 at 1:54 am
Tim said...I saw this film after the great deal of hype which has surrounded its release, and I must say I am confused at the accolades which have been - and continue to be - heaped upon it.
My disappointment was only compounded by the promise of the film’s early scenes: Saoirse Ronan’s young “Briony” is luminous, and exemplifies the slightly off-beat, quirky first part of the film.
It seemed to me that the film subsequently descended into cliche, with the directors use of the above-mentioned four-letter word and explicit sex scene reminding me of the peurile “shock tactics” of a student production.
The love story is steeped in melodrama, glorifying the shallow, lustful attraction of the two lead characters, and the treatment of the war seemed stagey. Certainly “horrors of war” stories have been executed far more successfully, and with a far subtler sensitivity, in recent and not-so-recent times.
The two actors with whom audience members will be most familiar - Kiera Knightly and Vanessa Redgrave - give performances which, although undoubtedly intense, are all too reminiscent of previous roles - a cause of distraction in a film which seeks to overwhelm the audience with the intensity of its story.
Indeed their performances were characterised by a certain predictability and superficiality which resonated throughout the entire film.
Overall it seemed that the director had bitten of more than he could chew. Part mystery, part love story, part war epic, Atonement left me unsatisfied on all accounts.
(I should note, I enjoyed the film to a certain degree, but my high expectations owing to the hype surrounding this film were not met. Hopefully my comments are helpful - and somehow “antidotal” - for potential viewers who anticipate a flawless cinematic experience as the Atonement awards juggernaut continues its run.)
Australia | Saturday, 2 February 2008 at 7:57 am
Susan Reibel Moore said...Although I thought the novel was significantly better than the film, despite some serious structural flaws, the film was a fine one--though I thought over-rated by other reviewers; and, as usual, Letitia Velasquez has written a marvellously thorough and judicious review. It’s ages since I’ve read McEwan’s book, but I’m quite sure the vileness of the ‘assailant’ who leads a charmed life is perfectly clear--probably clearer than it is in the movie.
MTM is naive and, from the sound of that comment, inexperienced as a reader and serious movie goer. Vivid sexual encounters, in books and films, vary enormously in their fundamental nature. The ways in which they are depicted also vary hugely. Velasquez is spot on about their nature and implications in this film. MTM, to be better informed on this perennial subject, which of course interests mature adults,should read Dante, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina for starters.
Australia | Saturday, 2 February 2008 at 5:50 pm
mtm said...Susan,
You draw much from very little. I may find time to respond when I am back from delivering a paper on Dante’s Inferno this afternoon.
As the old Shaker tune goes: “‘Tis a gift to be simple...”
MTM
-- | Sunday, 3 February 2008 at 2:26 am
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