Atonement (2007)
Country: US/GB/FR
Technical: DeLuxe 123m
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Brenda Blethyn, Harriet Walter, Gina McKee
Synopsis:
Three events, witnessed, or partially witnessed, by a fanciful adolescent girl in a privileged country house before the war, lead to her accusing the housekeeper's son of the rape of her cousin. Her error leads to the separation, first by prison, then by the war, of the young man and his lover, her elder sister.
Review:
Wright visualizes McEwan's novel as a series of almost dreamlike sequences, dwelling on certain images at times, at others gliding rapidly around in meticulously planned montages and sequence shots. The use of locations, cinematography and above all sound are attention-grabbing, in particular the tapping of a typewriter on the music track and the metamorphosing of Blethyn's banging on the police car with an umbrella. Time is not a straight line, and is sometimes played twice from different perspectives in order to get the child's restricted viewpoint across and to disguise the tricksy conclusion. As with other McEwan adaptations one can delve beneath the surface gloss and find the story to be nothing more than the regrettable damage a child can do to her elders' lives, but it is seldom that British drama amongst the upper classes has featured paedophilia and the writing of the word 'cunt' in letters several feet high across the cinema screen, so there is a novelty value here.
Country: US/GB/FR
Technical: DeLuxe 123m
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Brenda Blethyn, Harriet Walter, Gina McKee
Synopsis:
Three events, witnessed, or partially witnessed, by a fanciful adolescent girl in a privileged country house before the war, lead to her accusing the housekeeper's son of the rape of her cousin. Her error leads to the separation, first by prison, then by the war, of the young man and his lover, her elder sister.
Review:
Wright visualizes McEwan's novel as a series of almost dreamlike sequences, dwelling on certain images at times, at others gliding rapidly around in meticulously planned montages and sequence shots. The use of locations, cinematography and above all sound are attention-grabbing, in particular the tapping of a typewriter on the music track and the metamorphosing of Blethyn's banging on the police car with an umbrella. Time is not a straight line, and is sometimes played twice from different perspectives in order to get the child's restricted viewpoint across and to disguise the tricksy conclusion. As with other McEwan adaptations one can delve beneath the surface gloss and find the story to be nothing more than the regrettable damage a child can do to her elders' lives, but it is seldom that British drama amongst the upper classes has featured paedophilia and the writing of the word 'cunt' in letters several feet high across the cinema screen, so there is a novelty value here.
Country: US/GB/FR
Technical: DeLuxe 123m
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Brenda Blethyn, Harriet Walter, Gina McKee
Synopsis:
Three events, witnessed, or partially witnessed, by a fanciful adolescent girl in a privileged country house before the war, lead to her accusing the housekeeper's son of the rape of her cousin. Her error leads to the separation, first by prison, then by the war, of the young man and his lover, her elder sister.
Review:
Wright visualizes McEwan's novel as a series of almost dreamlike sequences, dwelling on certain images at times, at others gliding rapidly around in meticulously planned montages and sequence shots. The use of locations, cinematography and above all sound are attention-grabbing, in particular the tapping of a typewriter on the music track and the metamorphosing of Blethyn's banging on the police car with an umbrella. Time is not a straight line, and is sometimes played twice from different perspectives in order to get the child's restricted viewpoint across and to disguise the tricksy conclusion. As with other McEwan adaptations one can delve beneath the surface gloss and find the story to be nothing more than the regrettable damage a child can do to her elders' lives, but it is seldom that British drama amongst the upper classes has featured paedophilia and the writing of the word 'cunt' in letters several feet high across the cinema screen, so there is a novelty value here.