he sleeps so deeply

Rating: 10/10 (26 April 2008)

My generation grew up on the novels of Ian McEwan. As undergraduates, we ate up the illicit thrills of First Love, Last Rites and The Cement Garden. We reveled in the delicious viciousness of The Comfort of Strangers. It crescendo-ed with the cathartic joy of life, death and re-birth in The Child in Time. Nothing lasts, of course, and Black Dogs, Amsterdam, and Enduring Love all failed to scale previous heights. We smiled indulgently at the dabble with children's literature. This list isn't comprehensive, but you get the point - there was a distinct cooling off between McEwan and his public.
And then along came Atonement. An incredible, startling return to form that ripped your heart out.
Film adaptations of McEwan have hardly set the heather on fire. I approached Atonement the movie aware of all the plaudits, but expecting, at best, a decent-ish bastardization of the novel. Instead, the film achieves the cathartic heights of its source material. McAvoy is outstanding, the weight of injustice chiselled on his every expression. The technical aspects of the film are superb, the Dunkirk extended steadicam shot both outrageous and aesthetically appropriate. The score is playful but serious, in perfect harmony with McEwan's devastating conceit.
McEwan fans will appreciate the elliptical structure, rewinding of time, flash backs and flash forwards. Having said that, my Japanese viewing partner had not read the novel but appreciated the film immensely.
For some odd reason, The Child in Time, McEwan's best novel, remains unfilmed. I sincerely hope the people responsible for Atonement will one day turn their attention to that masterpiece.