anishAtonement : Movie Review
June 24th 2011 12:11
Kiera Knightley as Cecilia Tallis in Atonment
When Bryoni Tallis, a young girl from an aristocratic family chances upon a vulgar letter by one of their servant's sons named Robbie (James McAvoy) to her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) her flamboyant imagination convinces her that Robbie is a 'sex maniac' stalking her sister and this conviction is 'proved' right when she catches Robbie having sex with Cecilia but she fails to realize that it was consensual and Cecilia is really in love with Robbie. Later when a distant family member gets raped Bryoni manages to pin the blame on Robbie and because of his unimpressive descent Robbie falls an easy prey for her lies and is sentenced prison and later commissioned as a soldier to fight the War in France.
It is only years later that Bryoni is mature enough to realize her mistake but by then it is too late to reconcile with her sister, who has severed all ties with the family and working as a nurse, awaiting Robbie's return.
Decades later, Bryoni, now an established novelist and a dying woman, finally manages to find the courage to admit her mistakes and pens her final, autobiographical book-- Atonement
Robbie & Cecilia
Atonement is a classic war romance where all the focus is on the romance between two lovers and the War is just a backdrop. In fact, Robbie is hardly ever seen actually fighting a battle. The boyish charms of James McAvoy adds so much to this movie but unfortunately, Kiera Knightley can hardly match his effort. Saoirse Ronan as the young Bryoni Tallis is also pretty convincing. Oh, and make sure you watch out for the 'typewriter' background score throughout the movie. It is just awesome and looking back it also very appropriate as in the end we find that the movie was actually being typed out by Bryoni.
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