The Phantom Tollbooth - Movies Reviews Index


Since 1996	Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....


Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	Atonement Stars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave Director: Joe Wright Scriptwriter: Christopher Hampton (adapted from the novel “Atonement” by Ian McEwan) Composer: Dario Marianelli Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey Focus Features Rated: R Running Length: 119 minutes Here we have a case of a best-selling novel with various sub-stories, being adapted for the screen. What to do? Focus on one character, or try to do justice to everyone. Scriptwriter Christopher Hampton has done an admirable job in combining the stories of the various characters, plus the shifts in time, noted by a simple line at the bottom of the screen. Thus, the audience can switch perspective to see different elements of one event, or what is happening in the life of another. The time period goes from pre-WWII to present-day. Not only is the screen adaptation successful, but Dario Marianelli’s music score utilizes a typewriter sound (shades of Leroy Anderson) to show the urgency of some scenes. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey sets each scene as though you were looking at a picture in a museum. The war scene at Dunkirk has to be one of the longest---if not THE longest---continuous shot in cinema history. Atonement is a visual feast. Atonement is just that, to atone for a wrong. The story begins during the mid-1930’s in England. Briony (here played by Romola Garai) and Cecilia (an almost skeletal Keira Knightley) are sisters. Briony is the younger and wants to be a writer, especially of plays. One senses a secret envy of the beautiful and older, Cecilia, who is trying not to fall in love with Robbie (James McAvoy), the housekeeper’s son, whom the family has financed through college. Cecilia and Robbie communicate through letters and Briony is snoopy. Living with the family are cousins, though we are not‘ sure why they are there. One night, Briony thinks she sees a young female cousin being attacked by a man. Because of her jealousy of Cecilia, Briony tells the police she saw Robbie as the attacker. He is taken to prison and when WWII begins, ends up in France in the army. Cecilia is devastated and breaks contact with the family to lead her own life. Years later, Briony (now played by Saoirse Ronan), starting to atone for what she has done, goes into nursing and her scenes with wounded soldiers in a hospital are wrenching. Eventually, Cecilia and Robbie are together and Briony finds them. In their tense conversation, it comes out who the real culprit was. Now what? In later years, Briony, a successful writer, is played by Vanessa Redgrave. The film Atonement and the book Atonement will each stand alone. Not everything that is covered in the book is in the film, which adds material that is fitting to that storyline. Purists may quibble, but I didn’t mind. Flashbacks may take a few seconds to get into, but if you haven’t read the book, you will be able to follow the story. Each main character, Briony, Cecilia and Robbie, have their own stories in the book and film, plus crucial scenes are seen through different eyes to see what really happened. It all boils down to the class system that was in place in England at that time and a wealthy person could be readily believed while a commoner could not. War scenes are graphic and each actor reacts in almost the same way---just stunned and frozen. Whether you are a soldier in France (Robbie) or a nurse tending a head wound (Briony), you grit your teeth and keep going. Above all, manners will get you through anything. Keira Knightley’s Cecilia is the character I couldn’t relate to. As played by Keira, Cecilia is clearly in love with Robbie, but afraid to do anything about it. Knightley tosses her lines off with a pout, her shoulder blades act and that’s it. The three actresses who portray Briony resemble one another in their various ages and carry the idea of a girl/woman who has a crush on a man but is too young to realize it. Her idea of jealousy is to lie. Romola Garai does the best at this, while Saoirse Ronan is compelled to keep a stiff upper lip because of nurse’s duties. Vanessa Redgrave, as the elder Briony, shows us what a life of regret has done. James McAvoy does the best with his role as Robbie, who is in love with wealthy Cecilia, but wants to go his own way. When he is in wartime France, you feel the emptiness of war through his facial expressions. “Atonement” was a book I rather plodded through. It irks me sometimes when a writer takes numerous pages to make one point. The film “Atonement” gets to the point and would, perhaps make audiences want to read the book for background on England and France of that time period. At Oscar time, the film, director, cinematographer, set designer, script adaptation, costumes and composer are possible nominees. Copyright 2007 Marie Asner