Die-hard emos, eat your heart out

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2010)

A person watching this film for the first time will not only be struck by the full extent of the monumentally heartbreaking, though somewhat consoling, ending, but upon watching for the second or third time they will find themselves unreservedly choked up and on the verge of tears a mere 30 minutes into the film, now burdened with the curse of foresight. Some may even wish, as film-goers often do during repeat viewings, for some minor and consciously impossible alteration in the film in hope of a different conclusion, perhaps a happier one, even at the result of a lesser film.
But, collectively, depressing ending and all, Atonement is an absolute gem of a production that spares no expense as an original and surprising tragedy, to be treasured greatly. What's more, it is certainly the best work to date of director Joe Wright, whose faithful yet refreshingly vibrant adaptation of the Jane Austen classic Pride & Prejudice in 2005 is surpassed by this incredible spectacle. He has, in what must have been a long, arduous and demanding process, not made one misstep in this romantic epic, beginning with screenwriter Christopher Hampton's detailed and intimate script, which successfully transformed author Ian McEwan's hard-going narrative into an intriguing, dialog- ridden film. Dario Marianelli's (the composer behind the Academy Award nominated score of Pride & Prejudice) award winning score is also a great quality of Atonement, often independently defining stages of the film and existing as a contribution to many scenes in its own right, at times a poignant orchestral ballad of sentimentality that plucks longingly at the audience's heartstrings, at others an eerie piano melody reminiscent of the X-Files theme song, laced heavily by a monotonously clicking typewriter that only truly makes sense at the film's conclusion.
Exceptional casting prevails: James McAvoy casts aside his broad Scottish roots to bring out an achingly pitch-perfect performance of the British, upper-lower-class Robbie, a young man whose youth, naivety and notions of love are all shattered by his false imprisonment for rape. In a suitable choice by Joe Wright, Keira Knightley (the lead, Elizabeth Bennet, in Wright's Pride & Prejudice) delivers well as the mature but still pensively idealistic Cecilia Tallis. She is, in the film's earlier stages, stubborn and aggravating in her attempts to snobbishly disregard her affections for Robbie purely due to his social status; once her temperament towards him relaxes, however, the tense, misinterpreted feelings of separation for her are in turn forgotten. A true performer is uncovered in the casting of 13-year-old Saoirse Ronan as Briony Tallis, who perceives and hence captures the true essence of a confused and impressionable youngster, often without even speaking, offering merely an expression or quizzical flicker in her eyes. She immerses herself in the role beyond even Ian McEwan's own expectations, calling her "remarkable". Thankfully, her successors at different stages of Briony's life (Romola Garai at 18, Vanessa Redgrave at 77) are just as well equipped to establish interesting and clearly developed aspects of this character's mysterious personality.
Finally, after alluding to the ending of Atonement throughout the entirety of this review, it would probably be appropriate to offer a direct synopsis of the conclusion: Briony, age 18, visits Cecilia at her London flat where she (as is Briony herself) is working as a nurse for the WWII effort. Robbie, having returned from an imposed service at Dunkirk, is there also. Briony has decided to make this appearance so as to be confronted about her misdeeds and apologise to them both for the trouble she has caused, hoping to quench her guilt.
(An interesting note: in an interview regarding Atonement, cast member Keira Knightley stated that, "Briony feels the need to (relieve) this guilt she has. Whether or not she is guilty, she feels guilt." Is it true, perhaps, that because Briony's actions were those of an unwitting child then she cannot be truly held accountable for her actions but still be expected to acknowledge these sins contritely and atone for them, as any adult would? Morality issue: what are the ethical parameters to which guilt is applied? Hmmm. Anyway) They both lecture her accordingly, Robbie more aggressively than Cecilia, and instruct her to undo the wrong she's done and clear Robbie's name by informing the authorities and anyone involved with the rape incident the true identity of the perpetrator. This holds with it its own complications, but the confrontation concludes on somewhat amiable grounds, although Robbie and Cecilia maintain that they wish to never see Briony again.
Fast-forward 60 years. Briony, 77 years old, has become a renowned author and is being interviewed on her latest novel which is semi-autobiographical and in fact to be her last work of literature, although she claims it is also conversely her first as she has been writing it since she was a teenager. The novel, Atonement, is then revealed to be the setting for the entire film so far, mimicking Briony's actual life in almost every way, apart from the ending. She divulges, restraining her emotional disposition as much as possible, that she never was actually able to work up the courage to visit Cecilia and Robbie to apologise. In reality, Robbie succumbed to septicaemia while awaiting evacuation on a beach in Dunkirk, and Cecilia drowned in the notorious Balham Tube Station flooding. They never were reunited, there love left unfulfilled.
But here author McEwan and screenwriter Hampton demonstrate some of the most poignant logic ever told of tragedy: no one could possibly benefit from this ending. What could be gained from concluding such a romantic struggle so definitively, so depressingly? And so, for the sake of her sister's and Robbie's love, Briony changed the outcome and gave them what they were owed, what she took from them. She gave them their lost time together, to love and be loved by each other, the way they truly deserved.
Now that's an ending.