"I will return; find you, love you, marry you and live without shame."

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2008)

Joe Wright's 'Atonement (2007)' is a film that, on its glossy surface, seems practically perfect. The director has constructed each scene so meticulously that every shot looks perfectly positioned, every actor seems perfectly chosen, and every line sounds perfectly spoken. In the process of engineering this perfection, the film loses part of its heart, any sense of imagination or daring discarded by Wright's unwillingness to put a foot wrong. Adapted from Ian McEwan's critically-acclaimed novel of the same name, 'Atonement' is nonetheless an intriguing war-time tale of jealousy, naiveté and regret, and it offers much in the way of entertainment, despite lacking in depth. It's the sort of picture that is, dare I say it, tailor-made to appeal to the Academy, and a Best Picture nomination is certainly forthcoming, and not altogether undeservedly. A solid cast, including Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and young Saoirse Ronan, occupy the lavish sets, beautifully captured by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey; visually, the film is a sumptuous feast for the eyes.
'Atonement' is divided into two distinct acts, contrasting violently between the luscious, sunny countryside of pre-WWII England, and the bitter, bleak, crumbling London that followed. The first act, probably the stronger of the two, takes place at a bright and cheerful country-house, where the eldest daughter in a proper English family, Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley), falls in love with the household's handsome gardener, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). Younger sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan), aged 13, witnesses this romance flourishing from her bedroom window, misunderstands the situation, and steadily builds a resentment towards Robbie, culminating in a final, selfish act of jealousy that forever wrenches the budding couple from each others' arms. The power of written-word plays a crucial role in the events of the film; it is Briony's interception of a sexually-explicit letter that proves vital in damning Robbie and Cecilia's future, and, in the tearful finale, an older Briony attempts to use written fiction as the only remaining means of correcting past mistakes and destroyed lives. Dario Marianelli's pulsating dramatic score also recognises this symbolism, employing the sounds of a typewriter to augment the events unfolding on screen.
The second act of the film is a lot more subdued than what had preceded it, and, despite numerous memorable scenes, fails to entirely satisfy. Unlike the first act, the war-time sequences seemed to be heading in no direction, wandering aimlessly towards an undefined goal. Perhaps this was deliberate {during this period, nobody's fate was certain}, but, without any narrative drive, the film failed to fully hold my attention. Now 18 years old, Briony (played by Romola Garai), has discarded a Cambridge education in order to become a nurse, perhaps her first attempt at atonement for what she did to Robbie. Meanwhile, Robbie, having enlisted in the British Expeditionary Force, is trying hopelessly to return home to his true love, the horrors of war closing in upon him at every turn. The centrepiece of this section is a breathtaking long-shot on the beaches of Dunkirk, as Robbie and his comrades observe the chaos and confusion of the British evacuation, certainly the most impressive shot of its kind since Alfonso Cuarón's 'Children of Men (2006).' Despite drawing too much attention to itself, and doing little to propel the plot, the planning and co-ordination that must have gone into this minutes-long tracking shot is worthy of the ticket price alone.