Atonement (Widescreen Edition)

I loved this motion picture! The movie represented the novel quite well. The imagry is beautiful; it takes place on an English estate. I don't think the movie could have been better. That is why I gave it 5 stars.

I liked Keira Knightley in her last collaboration with director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) and, while not having high hopes for a similarly good engagement here, I hoped for better than I got from this sleepy movie. I can never understand what the Motion Picture and Film Academy sees when they nominate dull and slow films like this for awards, especially when they nominate them for the biggest award there is. I know its members are easily influenced by hype -- Hollywood lives on hype, after all -- but I see movies better than this one almost every time I turn on the TV.

Some of my friends thought otherwise, thinking the romantic storyline, clever ending -- where the heroine apparently atones for an earlier indiscretion -- or the hybrid real-fake scene of early World War II Dunkirk made the movie worth watching. I wish any of this had been true, that this film had mimicked any of the glorious storytelling from "The English Patient", a similarly-induced World War II-era romance.

But, alas, this movie did not achieve that. In my opinion, "Atonement" needs to atone to its viewers for boring them to death. This is the slowest film I've seen in some months with just about nothing going on to keep the viewer engaged. Even its raison d'etre -- a scene early on where a young woman misidentifies an event and turns it into sexual misconduct -- is not very fetching. A few directorial and production highlights can't save this somnambulist's delight.

So, to summarize, I'd say don't believe the hype about this movie. It is not Academy Award quality and, frankly, isn't very good. I watched "Knocked Up" the night after this and rediscovered the elements that make a film worthwhile and enduring -- humor, human attachment, a clever script, real life characterizations and a complete lack of pretense. I'd say rent "Knocked Up" and forget "Atonement".

Several years ago I read this book. Loved it!

I never thought it would adapt well to the screen though. It seemed too dreamy with too many scenes that might or just might not have happened. I was wrong. This film is as much a masterpiece as the book and was nominated for several Academy awards. Perhaps it's because Ian McEwan, the author, who I consider to be a literary genius, had a role in adapting his book to the screen. Perhaps it's because the details of the setting are so scrupulously adhered to. And perhaps it's because the acting throughout is just so darn good. Put together this film is an absolute gem.

The film opens in an upscale house in the English countryside in 1935. It seems an idyllic life, especially through the eyes of 13-year old Briony Tallis who is writing a play to be performed by her young cousins for the entertainment of her family. Her older sister, Cecilia, is in love with Robbie, the son of the cook, who has been provided an education by her father and loves Cecilia in return. But trouble ensues because of a misunderstanding based on the young Briony's active imagination.

Fast forward to 1940. England is now at War, Robbie has spent five years in jail and is now in the British army. He and Cecilia are still in love and Briony is eighteen years old and a nurse in a British hospital. The war is awful. We see Robbie experiencing its horrors. He is wounded and suffering as he waits nine days for evacuation from the beaches of Dunkirk. At this time, Briony has a change of heart, realizes that she has caused pain to her family because of her earlier lies, and seeks out her sister who she hasn't seen for the past few years.

It is only later, after a lifetime, that we find out that this visit to her sister is not quite what it seemed. This occurs when the elderly Briony gives up the secrets that bind this story together. Wow! What an impact!

The setting and cinematography are exceptional and the acting is outstanding. Kiera Knightly is cast as Cecilia and James Turner as Robbie. Briony is played by three different actors at different ages - Saaorise Ronan at 13, Ramola Garai at 18, and Vanessa Regrave as a the elderly woman.

This is a fine, complex and nuanced film. A sophisticated audience will love it. Highly recommended.

What could've been a great movie takes a drastic nose dive after fifteen minutes. The musical score is irritating due to the clacking of the manual typewriter. There wasn't enough character development for me to care about anyone in the film. I dozed off at least twelve times trying to get through this one. You'll have a much better time watching ice melt.

Bottom Line: Toss up
Haven't read the book, so I can't compare the book version to the film version.
I thought some of the shots, were very clever..and some very different which was nice. And how the editing captured the tension, thought that was clever as well. Loved the music with the imitation of the typewriter keys.
The sex scene, could have been a lot better. It was different, in how they shot it. But it didn't seem to portray the heat of the moment, in the way they shot it, what they focused on, and what they had the actors doing or not doing.
And it felt like, either the author of the book didn't have the depth in his story and characters, or the screenwriter didn't do a good adaption of it from book to script, or the director didn't wasn't pulling that intensity out of the actors for it to make it to the shot. I know both the main actors, can do intensity..but I didn't feel the depth of how they felt when I watched them on the screen..they didn't burn for each other.
Overall, it seemed pretty long and drawn out.