Atonement

James McAvoy, Alex Bailey

In the summer of 1935, bourgeois Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner, the son of a maid, live a brief and intense passion.
Bryony, Cecilia’s younger sister with a penchant for writing plays and novels, witnesses their love but misunderstands its reasons; driven by her wild fantasy, she ends up accusing Robbie of a crime he never committed, thus ruining his life and Cecilia’s.

Four years later, while Europe is in the clutches of WW II, Bryony finally understands the consequences of her terrible action and tries to atone – but she will spend a lifetime trying but will never come clean. 

The raw matter of this film is top quality: McEwan’s pages burn with a stifled rage and involve the questions of free will, the fall from Eden and spiritual torment.
But Christopher Hampton’s script only brushes shoulders with all this; instead, it mainly concentrates on the love story and gives it an epic twist with luxury visuals. Elegant locations and photography, plus an astonishingly long take of the Dunkerque bay full of soldiers, make it a feast – or, a cocktail party -  for the eye.

James McAvoy makes a very effective Robbie Turner: a sensual and passionate scoundrel.

On the contrary, Keira Knightley is totally unbelievable in what is supposed to be her star-making character: cold and inexpressive, she can never communicate any sense of passion.
Perfectly made up with a  scarlet mouth in every scene -  even under the bombings -  her rendition of Cecilia is just a fake.

Romola Garai, as older Bryony downplays her beauty: her face is dull and tormented enough, but still the audience doesn’t quite realise how awful and hateful Bryony is in the novel.

Rating

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