One of the Best Period Pieces I've Seen

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2007)

Cecilia Tallis: I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me.
Sweeping, Involving, Well-Acted, Masterfully Directed, Entertaining, Long and Extremely Dramatic. Exactly the way I like my epics. Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, but certainly not one about romance between two teenage lovers. Usually I'm not a big fan of the period piece genre, especially the "romantic" period piece genre. In 1996, a romantic period piece won best picture. Despite it's immense critical acclaim, one of the most boring films I've ever seen was 'The English Patient'. As I sat there on my couch watching I almost began crying because I thought this cruel form of punishment in the form of a DVD would never end. Of course, I could have taken the DVD out of the player, but I always complete a movie once I start it no matter how bad it is. However, I'm not reviewing 'The English Patient', I'm reviewing 'Atonement'. So walking into 'Atonement', I wasn't expecting something I'd be too excited to recommend to people. But, after those ending credits started to roll I was absolutely shocked at how brilliant the piece of film-making was I had just witnessed for the last two hours. 'Atonement' is perhaps the best romantic period piece ever made and without question one of 2007's very best films.
On the outside, 'Atonement' may seem like something Jane Austen would write. However, it is not. First of all it's too rough around the edges and secondly it's far better than anything she wrote. It's not a sappy, unrealistic, "feel-good" movie but a hard-hitting, painfully realistic and uncompromising masterpiece of a motion picture. The story takes place in 1935 England, when the country is just on the cusp of World War II. There's a rich family plantation owned by Tallis family. Cecilia Tallis (Keiria Knightley) is the good-looking and desirable late-teens rich girl who the not-so-simple clean-cut farm boy Robby (James MacAvoy) falls in love with. One day, Cecilia's younger sister Briony (Sairose Ronan) witnesses Cecilia and Robby physically expressing their love for each other what the twelve year old understandably mistakes for forced sexual violence upon her sister. When Robby mistakenly gives Briony a letter addressed to Cecilia explaining how Robby would like to taste Cecilia's nether regions and there is an "incident" in the house, Briony comes forward and indicates Robby as a sexual predator. Robby gets arrested and sent away never to see his love Cecilia again. The story then shifts a couple of years later in 1939 where Robby is a soldier in the war and Cecilia a nurse. That's about all I'll tell you about the plot.
The biggest achievement of 'Atonement' is perhaps while the film isn't always fast-paced, it's never boring. This is due partly because of the exquisite acting. James MacAvoy who has usually been upstaged by other actors in his previous films (cough, cough, Last King of Scotland, cough, cough), finally gets his moment shine and he's brilliant in his performance. Keira Knightley is great as well in a small part, but the best performances come from the three actresses who play Briony. Vanessa Redgrave is remarkable in her five minutes on screen and Romola Garai is extremely powerful as Briony at age 18. The best of these three is 12-year-old Saoirse Ronan as the 13-year-old Briony. She's absolutely incredible if not creepy in her role that will no doubt be remembered at Oscar time. Joe Wright's directing and the film's cinematography is without question some of the finest of 2007, and Christopher Hampton's screenplay is outstanding.
There's really nothing I have to complain about 'Atonement'. It may not take the #1 slot on my top 10 list of 2007, but it will be there around #2 or #3. 'Atonement' is not only one of the best movies I've had the pleasure of seeing this year, but it's also one of the best movies I've had the pleasure of seeing ever. Grade: A