Movie Review: Atonement

The first thing you see or hear in Atonement is the sounds of someone working away at a typewriter, which tells you straight off that the movie is about the power of words and actions and more importantly the interpration of words and actions. There has been a lot of great things said about this movie and it is been a darling of award shows everywhere, including a number of Oscar nominations, and I can see why.

The story revolves around the relationship of upper-class sisters Briony (played remarkably well by Saoirse Ronan) and Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and the man they are both in love with Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the son of the lead hand in the Tallis family's employ. It is clear early on that 13 year old Briony has a far too active for her own good imagination and is prone to the dramatic. She witnesses Cecilia coming out of a fountain sopping wet in front of Robbie and she starts to assume the worst. She clearly hasn't seen the whole sequence which is shown in it's entirety shortly after.

The main thing director Joe Wright does very well is show sequences first from Briony's perspective to give you insight into how she must see them, then show you what has really happened so you can judge them from an adult persecptive. What Briony sees as something terrible and lude is really just Cecilia retrieving part of a broken vase from the fountain in front of Robbie.

As things progress Robbie writes a sexually suggestive letter to Cecilia that he stupidly gives Briony to give to her. After reading it Briony is clearly crushed she is not the object of Robbie's interest and is convinced Robbie is a sex fiend, a belief only furthered when she finds Cecilia pinned up against a stack of books in the library by Robbie. Shorty after she witnesses her slutty young cousin Lola appearing to be raped (which is open to interpretation because I viewed it as consentual sex, though that distinction is not central to the plot)by a family friend only she assumes Robbie and her testimony helps get him sent to prison for rape.

The movie then gets away from the beautiful cinematography of the English mansion and lakeside to dive into fours years after with Robbie, who chose to join the army instrad of remaining in prison, seperated from his unit in France and trying to get back to Cecilia who has since turned her back on her family and working as a nurse in London. There is a fantastic 5 minute scene here that shows Robbie and his two fellow lost soldiers walking along the shores of Dunkirk waiting to be evacuated which helps set the backdrop for what Cecilia and Robbie are up against. It's at this point of the movie that things should movie quickly but never do. Pivotal scenes with Briony, who at this point has recognized the consequences of her lies, working as a nurse after turning down Cambridge don't pack much of a punch. Her encounter with Robbie and Cecilia falls nearly completely flat and hurried.

As I said earlier I can see why there a lot of great things being said about this movie. The direction, acting, specifically Ronan, cinematography and editing are fantastic. But I can't actually say Atonement is a good movie. And that's because it isn't. There are continuous buildups to pivotal moments that all fall flat. The relationship between Cecilia and Robbie is never given much background and comes together too quickly. Briony never shows any real conviction in her remorse while working as a nurse and the pacing is just too slow. But most disappointing is a quite literally jarring and abrupt change of pace and completely inappropriate ending that destroys any potential emotional payoff. Broken down into individual pieces those pieces are very good. Unfortunately the whole of those parts amounts to a 130 minute bore.

Rating 5/10