Review of Atonement (1971) by Rainer K — 16 Aug 2012

Today I learned another lesson regarding the female mind. I watched this on TV with my sister and found out that it's not that bad if all two lovers die in a romance especially if the deaths are about at the same time.

Atonement is an intelligently constructed film with a fancy narrative and bolstered by amazing performances by its three and a half lead actors. Saiorse Ronan is brilliant as a little lying sucker who destroys the lives of two young lovers. I'd be really surprised if she doesn't bring home Oscar gold within the next five years.

Her older versions are played by some Romola Garai, whom I never heard of before but who portrays the 18-year old Briony with distinctive skill, and by Vanessa Redgrave who merely appears on screen though.

Keira Knightley plays her older sister and delivers decent work as well but falls short compared to Ronan, Garai and McAvoy.

McAvoy gives probably the best performance of the film (Ronan is the close runner-up) as he switches from likable and charming housekeeper to embittered and wounded soldier.

I can't really sum up the plot without spoiling it, but I just hated the first act. Briony is such a little bitch I wished her plague and cancer from all my heart and she doesn't get better with age - never having the guts to admit she was lying until the very end short before her death. This is another of these films who depict the British high society morality full of bigotry and hypocrisy and I just hate this theme.

After the first half of the film, I considered giving it two stars at most but I couldn't resist the brilliant, elaborated third act after spending most of the middle parts guessing who's gonna die in the end. It turned out, I had some pretty good ideas...

I really wish I could like this film more and so many times good beginnings are wiped out by bad endings but this time the beginning of the film ruined the whole rest of it for me. Still, some certainly will enjoy it and the acting, directing and writing is award-worthy anyways.