Because of Lies, Not-So-Sweet Little Lies

The year is 1935, and 13-year-old Briony Tallis (newcomer Saoirse Ronan), a young writer, and her family live a life of privilege and wealth in their enormous English countryside mansion.

It is against this idyllic setting that Briony will irrevocably re-write her story, and that of her snotty sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the educated son of the family’s housekeeper.

This, as you may have deduced, will be a re-write for which she will forever strive to make amends.

Atonement, spellbindingly directed by Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) and based on the novel by Ian McEwan, is a decades-spanning drama about the reckless imagination of a child, the consequences of what she thinks is true, and a love that will survive the cruelties of a fate not of their own choosing and war.

It is a stylish film – the Oscar might as well go to costume designer Jacqueline Durran now for the green dress she fashioned for Knightley to wear in a pivotal scene – and a very good one, too.

Wright plays with light unlike any director I can think of at the moment, and it only adds to the mood of the film. I was impressed by how much it enhanced my watching it.

Beautifully scored to echo the noise a typewriter makes, which as it turns out can be playful, romantic, seducing, ominous, and ultimately, quite tragic, Atonement flashes backward and forward to let us in on what’s happening and what’s perceived, and it always retains a rather high level interest.

The ending, to avoid spoiling it, is more than worth the 122 minutes you will spend in the theater – and it just may leave you shaken and stirred.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Focus Features.