Atonement is the best film of 2007. With films like this one and like No Country For Old Men, my previous pick for best film of 2007, 2007 is most assuredly notable for being one of the finest years of cinema in recent memory. Certainly, 2006 was also a stellar year for film, so there’s certainly a reason to look ahead with confidence at some of the possibilities for films in 2008. It seems, with films like Atonement and No Country For Old Men, that Hollywood and the film industry internationally is rediscovering the art and importance of telling stories, building strong characters, and solid natural direction and set design. Atonement, in my view, leads the pack of the new breed of exciting cinema with its refreshingly honest and bold vision. It is absolutely spectacular.
Atonement recently scooped the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and the Golden Globe for Best Original Score – Motion Picture for the sweeping and magnificent score provided by Dario Marianelli. Recently, Atonement also picked up 14 BAFTA nominations, including Best Picture, Best British Film, Best Director for Joe Wright, Best Leading Actor for James McAvoy, Best Leading Actress for Keira Knightley, Best Supporting Actress for Saoirse Ronan, and Best Original Score. The film was also nominated for awards from the Art Directors Guild, the American Society of Cinematographers, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Satellite Awards, the London Film Critics Circle, and even the Online Film Critics Society. It will likely also be nominated for several Academy Awards.
Atonement is based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name, which was released in 2001 to much critical acclaim. The film adaptation of McEwan’s book was realized through the direction of Joe Wright, who also worked on the Jane Austen adaptation film Pride and Prejudice. Wright is a British filmmaker who received the BAFTA award for Most Promising Newcomer after his work on Pride and Prejudice. He will, in all likelihood, continue his winning ways at the BAFTA awards with this brilliant work which exceeds Pride and Prejudice significantly. In Atonement, Wright is directing a masterpiece of a film. With sweeping landscapes coupled with nuance and subtlety often saved for the most gifted of directors, Wright’s film is captivating both on a grand scale and also on a minimalistic one.
Atonement is categorized as a British romance, but it is so much more than that. It opens in 1935 with a fledgling young writer putting on plays with her relatives and going about the business of a usual 13-year-old girl. The girl, Briony Tallis, played brilliantly by 12-year-old Saoirse Ronan, is a boastful and egotistical girl. She is also very naïve and, through a series of events and coincidences, eventually changes the course of the lives of her older sister, Cecilia (Knightley) and her sister’s new lover, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). Without getting into spoilers, the events swirling around Briony’s confusion involve the naiveté of a typical young girl, sexual tension, and Briony’s own jealousy and envy towards her older sister. Scenes play out so carefully and with such wrought tension and agony as a desperate deception impacts several years of life for these central characters.
Atonement covers these years as the characters age and turn into different people. We learn real, true character values from those we once thought of as victims or innocents and we learn regret and, yes, atonement from those that we once thought to be acting carelessly. As Briony’s journey is followed through the older actresses the begin to play her, with 18-year-old Briony played by Romola Garai and 77-year-old Briony played by the wondrous Vanessa Redgrave in a beautiful turn, we learn the truth and we learn how the truth has really impacted these characters and, moreover, the version of the story we, the audience, experience. It’s tenderly crafted storytelling and it is absolutely astonishing when the final curtain drops on this sumptuous film.
Keira Knightley is astounding here. She plays Cecilia in such a compelling way that the characters traits simply exist on the screen. Nothing is overdone, the voice and the demeanour is absolutely perfect. The way Knightley speaks and looks in this film is nothing short of impeccable. Cecilia is no ordinary romantic heroine. She is often cold and conflicted, playing war inside with her emotions and her disdain for the actions of the ignorant Briony. Cecilia, it becomes clear through time, knows no forgiveness and knows nothing more than vengeance in what she asks Briony to do to make up for these events. As reality becomes known, however, we begin to wonder about the true character of Cecilia. What would she have been like, really? As these questions swirl around long after the credits, we become attuned to the remarkable job that Knightley has done in crafting a character we thought we knew. It’s wonderful.
Atonement is no simple romantic tragedy or epic. It is so much more than that. Of course, it also looks simply astounding. Its set pieces are beautiful and each shot is elegant, colourful, and seductive. A simple slip out of a shoe is all it takes to know the passion between Cecilia and Robbie, for instance, as the love scenes are shot so carefully and with such unique freshness. This is a tale for the senses, as the green lush dress of Knightley’s Cecilia splashes across the screen in impeccable scenes of artistic value and passion. There are others just like it throughout the film, as the sights and sounds of Atonement reflect the true beauty and value of this material.
Atonement is a film about a lifetime of regret, betrayal, and ultimately the stupidity of one central character. As the film draws to a close with its elegant set pieces, tragic romance, and wonderful conversations and segments, what we learn about the smallness of things is perhaps the most shockingly tender moment of all. What we learn about the characters, about reality, about truth, about atonement as an entity is something so unique in today’s filmmaking that it is likely to be shattering to those in attendance. Atonement is not simply another epic with nothing new to say. It is a tragic story of a wasted life, of missed opportunity, of graceless fear. Atonement is penitence wasted in the most glorious fashion.
9.8/10
Trailer:
January 18, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I so wannna watch this movie ASAP! I have read the book and watched the trailers…the movie looks like it deserves a 10/10.Great review!
January 19, 2008 at 12:15 am
I so wanna read the book now!
January 29, 2009 at 11:57 am
Joe Wright is easily be favourite director at the moment. The fact that he works along side genius composer Dario Marianelli means that any film he makes is unmissable. But actually, I prefer Pride and Prejudice to this, and am a little disappointed that when I searched under his name, it did not come up. It’s my favourite film of all time, and I am no fan of romances. Do you mean to say that you have not watched it? I am very curious what you would make of it, as unbiased people rave on about it, whilst Austen purists (and Colin Firth lovers) slate it as the worst movie ever made.
Ah, but this is about Atonement. But seriously, please write a review of P&P. If you haven’t watched it, you are missing the kind of beauty you saw in Atonement. As for Atonement, I very rarely branch out to write reviews of films because I’m not much of a film buff, but I did write one for this. I found it technically perfect. And having read the book, was astounded at how successful they adapted the book. I can’t fault the adaptation, the direction, the music, the acting – all the technical elements that make a film. The only problem I had with this (and also with the book) is that I found the characterisation and story a bit lacking. If you’re interested in my take just go here: http://nicolathinks.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/joe-wrights-atonement/ Won’t make you search for it.
But seriously. REVIEW P&P. And I’m going to add you to my blogroll. I think your reviews are fantastic. I will definitely be coming back often.
January 30, 2009 at 2:53 am
Haha, thanks Nicola. I actually have seen Pride and Prejudice (both the Joe Wright version and the Colin Firth thing). I WILL review it, too, but you might not like what I have to say about it….
Fair warning, right?
January 30, 2009 at 2:53 am
PS, have also added you to my blogroll. Cheers.
January 30, 2009 at 9:26 am
Oh noes! You’re going to break my heart? Actually, I have noticed a pattern going through your site that films that I thought were terrible (or over-hyped) are up your street, and films I loved you tend to give a low score. This does not include all the crappy tean movies, slasher flicks and romcoms – most of them are bad by default. I still enjoy reading them though as I enjoy different perspectives.
I am warned, but I am curious anyway. It actually would be nice to read a critical review of it that isn’t ‘it cuts the book up!’ or ‘where’s Colin Firth?!’ My mind boggles in wonder how people expect everything to be put in a two hour film. I have read the book plenty of times (English Literature graduate here!) but I didn’t care about the changes in the slightest. Oh well. I shall look forward to yours and I will try to restrain myself from shouting out a load of requests to you for what films to review. XD
January 31, 2009 at 1:40 am
Yeah, I tend to stray from comparing books to films. Pointless endeavour, in my view. I used to have this essay up here explaining why I didn’t do that and how I review each film on its own merits, etc. etc., but I took it down because I figured my reviews were boring enough on their own.