Stunning

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2008)

Beautifully shot, with stunning colours and exquisite tension at every crucial moment. I'm not a huge fan of Keira Knightley but she served well for this film. James McAvoy was a perfect as the wronged, restrained, but passionate lover (a travesty that he was robbed of an Oscar nomination). The double-backs to certain scenes and a brilliant score ensured that we were absorbed in this poignant masterpiece from beginning to end where we are met with a final heartbreaking twist.
Perhaps not a film with an abundance of underlying messages (immortalising the lovers in a book? That's not atonement. Call me a hopeless tragic but what she did could only generate a lifetime of suffering and regret, never atoned for.) Nevertheless, it is a beautiful work of art. Highly recommended.