ATONEMENT

(December 2007, U.S.)

There was a time in the early '90's when I went through what I call my "Merchant-Ivory Period", in that I really got into slow-moving British Dramas like HOWARD'S END, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY and even films of similar style like Martin Scorsese's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. ATONEMENT has all of that flavor, to be sure, but it also combines elements of mystery, suspense, wartime drama and, of course, true love.

Watching the film, one can sense some very frightening elements in the character of 13 year-old Briony Tallis in her misinterpretations of events and errors in judgement. The mere act of her looking through her bedroom window and drawing drastic conclusions based on the version of what she THINKS she's witnessing and what actually took place in reality (Kurosawa's RASHOMON, anyone?) begins a chain reaction of events to not only lead an innocent young man to jail and the frontlines of World War II, but to also deny two young lovers their inevitable happiness.

The ending, too, offers us a surprise ending in story structure where we not only learn that much of what we've seen between two young people in love never took place except in the imagination of Briony Tallis as an accomplished novelist, but also that the young lovers were actually killed in 1940 as casualties of war. Vanessa Redgrave's cameo appearance as the old Briony ties the entire film together perfectly.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Older Briony Tallis: "So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness."