Deep and Dark Love Story

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2007)

Every once in a while or perhaps every year there comes your usual epic love story. What I loved about this one is that it doesn't play like an epic. Here is a story that is about making amends and a love that was so strong it became an individual's redemption. The film opens in London circa 1935: 13-year old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan, who can break your heart with those eyes) is a blossoming writer who one day misinterprets a series of events that occur between the affair of her older and determined sister, Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightely) and the housekeeper's son, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy, a pure hearted leading man). But one night, Briony accuses Robbie of a horrible crime he did not commit and is condemned for. Five years later, the love between Cecilia and Robbie is as strong as ever and they correspond while he fights the second world war. Meanwhile, Briony grows older (Romola Garai, an true star in the making) and realizes the mistake she made, but can she make things right again? The film lapses between the points of view of the sisters and Robbie as they go through their own struggles between the war and the home front. This film is definitely worth seeing and on my top ten favorites of 2007.