Although it’s adapted from an acclaimed novel and hews remarkably close to its source material’s plot, Joe Wright’s Atonement is one of the year’s greatest accomplishments of pure cinema, its cinematography and sound design often conveying far more than its dialogue does. The work by Wright and director of photography Seamus McGarvey is so impressive that at times it threatens to overpower the story, which is epic and occasionally heartbreaking but never as powerful or cohesive as it ought to be.
It’s best in its first third or so, which focuses on a tense day at the English country estate of the Tallis family on the eve of the Second World War. Precocious and self-important 13-year-old budding writer Briony (Ronan) witnesses a series of incidents between her older sister Cecilia (Knightley) and Robbie Turner (McAvoy), the son of the family’s housekeeper. Misinterpreting the pair’s budding love as something more sinister, Briony, through a series of tragic coincidences, ends up condemning Robbie to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
With exceptional use of cross-cutting, insert shots, overlapping sound effects and striking and unnerving tableaux, Wright makes the world of the Tallis household into one fraught with tension and passion, where a single, seemingly innocent slip-up can doom one to a lifetime of torment. The relentless pounding of typewriters (both Briony and Robbie use them, to devastatingly different effect) haunts these scenes like a hungry pursuer.
When the film switches perspectives and time frames to focus on Robbie, now a soldier in the war a few years later, it’s less effective, although this portion does feature an astonishing four-plus-minute long take encompassing the devastation of war. Plot-wise, Robbie’s soldierly exploits are less than compelling, as he and Cecilia pine away for one another. The story then switches again to focus on Briony (now played by Garai), which leads into a jarring metafictional conclusion that no doubt worked better on the page.
Despite its disjointedness, Atonement does contain a number of powerful moments, especially as the scope of Briony’s mistake becomes clear (ultimately, it’s really her story). Filmmaking skill aside, Wright never quite connects the emotion of the story to his awe-inspiring presentation of it, and that leaves the film beautiful but always just out of reach.
Atonement
***
Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai
Directed by Joe Wright
Rated R
Opens Friday