A beautifully rendered crocodile tear

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2008)

Despite excellent casting and powerful acting by lead actors Knightly and McAvoy, this movie is held back by bad direction and screenplay.
Many scenes drag on, seemingly without purpose, at the expense of detail and backstory. We get too little of the dreadful confectionery king Marshall (the perfect villain if ever there was one). We get nothing of Robbie's time in prison. We get almost nothing of Robbie's background and the class struggle.
The musical score, with the exception of a few golden moments (like the grandfather clock ticking in the background during the library scene), is overbearing and poorly directed, and after a while becomes frankly annoying.
The film's critical flaw however is that Briony is profoundly uninteresting. Her feelings are ersatz and officious, making her gestures meaningless. During Briony's confrontation with Cecile and Bobbie the film almost redeems itself by exposing Briony's childishness and the inadequacy of her remorse. Which could have been followed by an unadventurous but serviceable fade to black and drinks for the weary audience - many, many drinks.
Sadly that is not what happens. Instead, in a final outrageous act of betrayal, after what feels like hours and hours of agonizingly smeared out long shots, the viewer is summarily informed that the precious few scenes of dramatic interest were in fact figments of Briony's guilty imagination.
Then the movie wraps up with an embarrassing scene showing Robbie and Cecilia at the beach. This is Briony's fanciful way of saying sorry: a beautifully rendered crocodile tear.