Excellent produced tragic love triangle; newcomer Ronan is a rare jewel

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2008)

ATONEMENT (2007) *** Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Harriet Walter, Ramola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave. Excellent adaptation of Ian McEwan's best- selling novel about an unlikely love triangle set in WWII Europe involving mistaken feelings, unspoken secrets, and the titular curse for its main characters. Newcomer Ronan is an amazing find as the young girl who turns things topsy-turvy for her older sister (Knightley in her best role to date) and lover (McAvoy equally good ), the well-to-do family's handyman when a communication breakdown sends the three into a decades long whirlwind with heartbreaking end results. Filmmaker Joe Wright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton make the familiar storyline something bright and new (and surprisingly humorous and expectedly haunting) but the length is a tad padded particularly the battle sequences at Dunkirk. But overall a well produced sad love story.