thin and useless

Rating: 2/10 (17 April 2008)

With a title like "atonement" we expect something moral and uplifting. What we get instead is the self-gratifying maunderings of an aging authoress of bodice rippers: as a spoiled child she ruins three lives by lying (or letting her imagination go wild, which is the same thing); those with ruined lives are killed in WW2, but our "heroine" (the little snot) goes on to write 21 novels, the last of which is her confession. She writes her (dead) victims a happy ending. Is that atonement? No, it's yet another act of selfishness. The film is suitably atmospheric, and the morays and habits of the British upper class continues to mystify, but this is only an entertainment, wholly unworthy of the title. Atonement is much harder work than this film could ever do.