Atonement

2016: When I was in school my English teacher had us practice exam questions by reading passages of books so we were prepared for the unseen questions (for anyone who hasn’t done an English exam you used to get a passage from a book you had never studied that you had to analyse and answer questions on). One lesson we had to read a section from Atonement by Ian McEwan. This book is set in 1935 England, during World War 2 and present day England. It follows a young girl who’s mistaken lie ruins lives and how she reflects on that as she gets older.

Front Cover of the Novel

Now during this lesson our teacher told us this had been adapted into a BAFTA and Academy Award winning film released in 2007. She then proceeded to show us the trailer to this film which showed that the two main characters were played by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. I am a huge James McAvoy fan and have loved him for many years and even though I’m not as big of a Keira Knightley fan I do quite like some of her works (especially Pirates of the Caribbean). The trailer and my teachers explanation made this film sound quite interesting so I wanted to watch it but never got round to it.

The Film Poster

Cut to 2020 and I found this film to be on Netflix so one morning when I had the house to myself I decided to finally give it a go. 

This long explanation now leads to me to tell you that I’m going to start doing film reviews for films I’ve seen whether they’ve been out for years or have recently been released...

 

This review may contain a few spoilers but I will try to keep them to a minimum.

 

So onto the review:

 

Long story short Atonement follows Cecelia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie’s (James McAvoy) romance. But their romance is ripped apart when Cecelia’s younger sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan) accuses Robbie of a crime she believes him to have committed. The film then follows the three characters as they continue their lives following the fall out from Robbie’s arrest. Robbie is sent to jail and then drafted to the army and both Cecelia and Briony become Nurses during World War Two however the two sisters have not spoken since Robbie’s arrest.

An Opening Scene featuring Cecelia and Robbie

This film follows the tragedies that struck during World War Two and shows how one lie can have consequences for everyone involved. It is a simple mistake of putting two and two together and making five but all actions have consequences and the ones played out in this movie are fatal.

Briony (played by Saoirse Ronan)

The 2 hour film is slightly slow in parts but the romance between Robbie and Cecelia makes you want to continue watching to see what the outcome of Briony’s lies will be. However the twists of this film are what made it so engaging and heart-breaking. This film is yet another example of the tragedies of war. But also gives you an insight into the life of a Nurse during the War. As well as this the film is full of many of Britain’s most iconic stars including: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Mays, Vanessa Redgrave, Alfie Allen and Brenda Blethyn. Plus the actors previously mentioned.

Paul Marshal (Benedict Cumberbatch)

Tommy Nettle (Daniel Mays)

It has moments of beautiful cinematography and the music throughout is so poignant and the characters are portrayed brilliantly. Personally I felt that James McAvoy was the standout character as the wrongly convicted Robbie Turner. I felt for his character from the moment he first appeared on the screen right up to the closing credits.

Cecelia Tallis (Keira Knightley)

Robbie Turner (James McAvoy)

I won’t be rating these films as I feel all films are great in one way or another even if I don’t particularly enjoy them. However I will say that I definitely recommend this film, it’s made me want to read the book that it is adapted from and I’m very thankful that my English teacher made me analyse the description of Cecelia.

- Courtney -