Release
Date:
March 18, 2008 Director: Joe Wright Starring: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Vanessa
Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn Genre: Drama, Romance MPAA Rating: R (for disturbing war images, language and
some sexuality)
From the
award-winning director of Pride & Prejudice comes a stunning, critically
acclaimed epic story of love. When a young girl catches her sister in a
passionate embrace with a childhood friend, her jealousy drives her to tell a
lie that will change the course of all their lives forever. Academy Award
nominee Keira Knightley and James McAvoy lead an all-star cast
Extras:
Commentary by
director Joe Wright,
"Bringing the Past
to Life: The Making
of Atonement," "From
Novel to Screen:
Adapting a Classic,"
deleted scenes.
(Universal).
Movie Spotlight
Atonement Release
Date:
December 7, 2007 (limited; wider: Dec. 14; wider: Dec. 21; wider: Jan. 4) Studio: Focus Features
Director: Joe Wright
Screenwriter: Christopher Hampton
Starring: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Vanessa
Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn Genre: Drama, Romance MPAA Rating: R (for disturbing war images, language and
some sexuality) Official Website: FocusFeatures.com
Plot Summary: Joe Wright, the BAFTA
Award-winning director of "Pride & Prejudice," has reunited with his filmmaking
team and his Academy Award-nominated actress, Keira Knightley, for another
classic British romance, starring James McAvoy (BAFTA Award nominee for "The
Last King of Scotland") opposite Knightley. Christopher Hampton (Academy Award
winner for "Dangerous Liaisons") has written the screenplay adaptation of Ian
McEwan's best-selling 2002 novel Atonement. Shot on location in the U.K., the
film's story spans several decades. In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony
Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in
their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes
on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie
Turner (McAvoy), the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch
for Briony’s headstrong older sister Cecilia (Ms. Knightley). Cecilia, he hopes,
has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to
combust. When it does, Briony – who has a crush on Robbie – is compelled to
interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia
and Robbie declare their love for each other, but he is arrested – and with
Briony bearing false witness, the course of three lives is changed forever.
Briony continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a
terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain
atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.
Oscar better sit up and
tale notice of this powerful, moving, beautifully captured adaptation of
the Ian McEwan novel about the repercussions of a 13-year-old girl’s
jealous action leading to the downfall of two people in love (played by
James McAvoy and Keira Knightley). Set in England and France during the
Second World War the exceptional artistry flows rhythmically and
seamlessly between setting, flashbacks, and scenes; apart from some
pretension its grows on you and leaves you engrossed until the very end,
and later. Layered and literate, it is about hefty subject matter as
sin, grace, forgiveness and redemption set in the overture of war and
suffering, and if you look close in the first scene for the Roman
Catholic icon of Jesus in Gethsemane there is a hint of the spiritual in
the process of passion and trial in the movie’s thematic palette.
Atonement has stand-out performances from James McAvoy and Romola
Garai, as the older girl who relives the incident five years later with
guilt. Director Joe Wright keeps the momentum going after his success
with Pride and Prejudice in 2005.
In
the riveting 'Atonement,' a 13-year-old girl tells a lie that destroys
many lives, including her own David Ansen: Newsweek
No two-hour film could ever capture all the riches of
McEwan's masterly novel. But Wright and Hampton's Atonement comes
tantalizingly close, while adding sensual delights all its own...more
Atonement,
Ian McEwan's acclaimed 2001 novel, is a gripping story that
is both brainy and shot through with complicated emotions Claudia Puig: USA Today
The movie version feels like a stately, but watered down,
episode of Masterpiece Theatre fused with The
English Patient...more
Atonement
is everything a true lover of literature and movies could
possibly hope for Rex Reed: NY Observer
It is unquestionably, without any reservations, my favorite
film of the year....more
EN
One Minute Review by Peter Veugelaers:
Atonement,
Ian McEwan's acclaimed 2001 novel, is a gripping story that
is both brainy and shot through with complicated emotions