Atonement

UK / France, 2007. Directed by Joe Wright. James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Vanessa Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn.

Between the two world wars, in a grand house in the English countryside, 13-year-old Briony (Ronan) is running around using her fertile imagination to create plays and stories, inspired in part by what she sees going on around her. She has plans to be a writer when she’s older. Robbie (McAvoy), an Oxford graduate, is the son of the housekeeper and attracted to Briony’s older sister, Cecilia (Knightley). The attraction is mutual and in an erotically charged sequence we see them flirt with each other at the fountain in the garden on a balmy summer’s day. Briony herself has a bit of a crush on Robbie and watches the pair from an upstairs window. Later, Robbie gives her a note to take to Cecilia, which she reads before passing it on to her sister. Later still, she interrupts them while they are in the middle of an intimate embrace. The film repeats these events, allowing us to see them from different points of view. This is crucial for, as we come to understand, they lead to Briony telling a lie which has devastating consequences for all three of them… The story then jumps to wartime, with Romola Garai taking over as the 18-year-old Briony – she is training to become a nurse, her sister is already one, and Robbie is in the army. The final sequence has Vanessa Redgrave appear as the elderly Briony, now a famous writer taking stock of these momentous incidents from her past.

This film, based on the book by Ian McEwan, works on a number of different levels and is superbly crafted from start to finish. The opening act at the family home contrasts strongly with the second, which takes place during the war – there is a memorable sequence comprising a long, unbroken take of the beach at Dunkirk which stays in the mind long after the film is over. And I was several times reminded of Joseph Losey’s film of The Go-Between, which it resembles in part. They share some similar themes and both have a Redgrave (Vanessa’s father, Michael, in Losey’s film) turn up towards the end. Very moving and unmissable.