Atonement
This is a movie that came out back at the beginning of 2008 and I saw it sometime in the spring at the cheap discount theater. It was not that I saw there because I did not want to see, as in fact it had looked promising from the day it was released. I just did not get around to it until a later hour like that. It seems that I have this problem about time management with this movie all the way around as I am just now getting around to making a posting about the movie. Granted, I was not as active on the blog font back in those months but I have been since. I had been holding this one though until it made the next step. Now is the time though, as the movie is premiering on HBO on the morrow evening at 8:00pm, if I have my facts straight.
Atonement is set in Britain in 1935 for its beginning scenes. There is an older sister, Cecelia, played by Kiera Knightley of a well to do family. She has a younger sister, Briony. And of course there is the housekeepers son, Robbie played by James McAvoy. The trouble begins as there is an obvious sexual tension between Cecelia and Robbie that neither has acted on for whatever reasons. Briony picks up on it but really does not truly understand – however being the aspiring writer that she is starting to be – she lets her imagination run wild with it. It does not help in a letter Robbie writes to apologize, he drafts one expressing his sexual desires to Cecelia and then accidentally sends it, via Briony to her.
From there things go crazy. A huge family dinner is planned around the brothers return along with a friend and additional cousins visiting. At some point during the eve, Robbie and Cecelia do act on the sexual tension in a very well done sexually charged scene in the library, only to be caught in the act of course by Briony. Later, some of the young cousins disappear. While out looking for them, the female cousin is allegedly raped and Briony see that as well. She then tells police and family that it was Robbie. He is quickly arrested, tried, and convicted.
We skip ahead a few years as the British forces are fighting in France prior to withdrawal from the sad days at Dunkirk. We learn that Robbie was paroled to serve in the forces, but not as a commissioned officer given his background and education, but rather as a grunt. We learn that Cecelia has rebuked her family for not seeing Robbie’s innocence and that they have shared some moments. We also learn that Briony has sought forgiveness from them – though it is questionable how far that they actually go in giving it.
I can’t really say more without giving away the plot, but you can read more from the link above. The nice thing of note though is the movie is classically made and puts together several from the same team that did the most recent Pride and Prejudice, including both Kiera Knightly in the leading female role and the same director, Joe Wright. The movie has that same kind of feel to as Pride and Prejudice has, a true historical costume British romance. This one however, perhaps because of the accusation and the subsequent war background as British forces are pushed out of France seems to be a romance with a lot more strive involved and it truly does wrench every drop of emotion out of you.
As for the backdrop and the costuming, not being super familiar with the time period, I can really only say it looks good. I know some folks that do WWII after we Yanks got involved and it is similar to their authenticity, but of course over five years things did change some I sure. The scenes at the estate certainly seem real enough to be believed, even the odd twist with the housekeepers son getting a good education and studying to be a doctor is all believable with the presentation that is used. I will note there were a few event dates moved around (like last day in Dunkirk) seemingly without reason, but those are minor. The biggest thing though, historically the British forces in France prior to Dunkirk had no conscripted prisoners within its ranks.
One final note, though it is from a different director, another costume drama that stars Kiera Knightely is about to release (this weekend I think oddly enough), The Duchess. This one is set in the 18th century with an aristocratic dysfunctional family in England.
