I have been anxiously awaiting the U.S. release of Atonement for months now. The film finally came to the Chicago area last week, but it was only available at two theaters in the city — neither of which I could get to. This week, I discovered that Atonement spread to a few more theaters, including one about 30 minutes away from my house. I immediately cleared my schedule for the morning, and headed out to attend the matinée showing. This film was well worth the wait and hassle that I had to go through to see it!
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Atonement opens in 1935 at the vast Tallis estate in England. It’s there that we meet the major players in the film: 13-year-old Briony Tallis (played by Saoirse Ronan), a precocious girl who spends her free time writing plays for her cousins to perform in; Cecelia Tallis (Keira Knightley), Briony’s older sister; and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), a young man whose father was gardener of the estate and who was put through school by Mr. Tallis.
One day, Briony witnesses a scene between Cecelia and Robbie out by the fountain. Briony is watching from an upstairs window of the house, so she doesn’t actually know the context of the scene; she just gives it her own interpretation. She sees Robbie break a vase that Cecelia was carrying, causing a piece to fly off into the fountain. Cecelia takes off her dress to go into the fountain and retrieve the piece, with Robbie watching all the while.
Briony initially doesn’t think much of this incident, but then later on something happens to change her mind. Robbie asks her to deliver a note of apology to Cecelia, and then as soon as she’s out of Robbie’s sight, she rips the note open to read it for herself. Robbie had sent along the wrong note: the one in the envelope contained a vulgar word and lewd sentiments that Robbie never meant for anyone to see. Horrified despite not understanding what she read, Briony delivers the note to Cecelia, then goes to talk to her cousin Lola (Juno Temple) about it. The girls decide that Robbie is a sex maniac.
Briony then looks for Cecelia, only to find her having sex with Robbie in the library. Once again, Briony is shocked by what she sees, and is more convinced than ever that Robbie only has one thing on his mind. These preconceptions color Briony’s thinking when she later comes upon Lola being sexually assaulted by a man in a dark field. Briony is convinced that she saw Robbie, but that’s only because of all the preceding incidents.
Briony formally (and falsely) accuses Robbie, and produces the lewd note he wrote to Cecelia as further evidence against him. He ends up serving three years in prison before being given the option to join the army. Meanwhile, Cecelia moves out to become a nurse as World War II begins in earnest, and she essentially cuts off all ties with her family. Briony, feeling guilty about what she did, decides to become a nurse as well instead of going to Cambridge as she ought to have done.
The rest of the film then deals with the way these three lives were irrevocably changed by Briony’s childhood lie, culminating in a surprising ending.
My reaction: I read the Ian McEwan novel of the same name a few years ago, and while I remembered the basic outline of the story (including the ending), I had long since forgotten the details. But as I watched this film, everything came flooding back to me, and I was started remembering events as they unfolded on the screen. I have to say that when I read the book, a lot of the plot points were confusing to me, especially with all the POV changes at the beginning. The movie makes everything much clearer, so for that I’m grateful.
I thought the film was well done on the whole, but for some reason, I didn’t find myself caring about the characters as much as I did in the book. For instance, I felt far more sympathetic towards book Robbie than movie Robbie, and the close sisterly relationship between Briony and Cecelia simply didn’t come through very well in the film. As a result, the ending, while still powerful, lost some of its punch for me.
Nevertheless, Atonement as a whole was still an incredible film. I’m sure it will win some Oscars and other awards, at least for cinematography if nothing else, and it is certainly deserving. I give it 4 stars out of 5 and recommend that you see it in a theater if you can!