Atonement Plot
Atonement is a 2007 British film directed by Joe Wright. It is adapted from Ian McEwan's novel of the same name and stars James McAvoy and Keira Knightley in the lead roles. The film was produced by Working Title Films and distributed worldwide by Universal Studios, with the US release through the Focus Features division. It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 7 September 2007, and in North America on 7 December 2007. As the opening film of the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Atonement made director Joe Wright, at the age of 35, the youngest director ever to open this prestigious festival. The film also opened the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival and is considered by many a contender for the Oscars 2008. It has been rated R by the MPAA for disturbing war images, sexuality and nudity and has received a 15 rating from the BBFC. Official Tag line: You can only imagine the truth.
Locations for the filming included the seafront and a cinema in Redcar; the Leigham Court Estate, Streatham Hill, South London (standing in for Balham, Cecilia's new home after becoming estranged from her family); Stokesay near Craven Arms; and Grimsby.
The beach and cliff scene first shown on the postcard and later seen towards the end of the film were filmed at the Seven Sisters, Sussex, more precisely at Cuckmere Haven which is incidently quite near to Roedean School which Cecilia was said to have attended.
The scenes from the London Underground (mainly Balham) were filmed in the former Piccadilly Line station of Aldwych. This is regularly used for filming as it has the classic London Tube appearance, was only closed in the 1990s and, because it was on a spur, has no trains running through it.
The Tallis family home is Stokesay Court, Onibury, Shropshire, UK. The Victorian mansion was built in 1889 by glove manufacturer John Derby-Allcroft and is still privately owned.
Lola's wedding was filmed at St John's, Smith Square, Westminster, London. Smith Square is very close to the Houses of Parliament and has played as an important backdrop to many significant occasions in 20th century UK politics.
The scenes shot in Redcar include the seafront as a war torn Dunkirk and a scene in the local cinema on the promenade. The Redcar as Dunkirk scenes include one continuous, 7 minute long shot with no cuts, accompanied by "Elegy For Dunkirk" (track 10 on the film's soundtrack). The song is sung on the beach and the bandstand. The song was recorded by Bede College Choir and includes the hymn "Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind". The location for the Tallis estate was chosen from the pages of an old copy of Country Life, according to Joe Wright.
Both Emily Watson and Kristin Scott Thomas were approached to play Emily Tallis before the role went to Harriet Walter. Abbie Cornish was considered for the role of Briony (aged 18), but backed out due to scheduling conflicts with Elizabeth: The Golden Age, though Romola Garai who won the part shot her scenes in four days.
The film has made $13,897,057 in the UK alone.
The film is at first set in the UK in the 1930s. 13-year-old Briony has a crush on Robbie, who is in love with Briony's sister Cecilia. Through her window, she sees Cecilia jump into a fountain in the presence of Robbie, which Briony understands as a flirtation between them.
Robbie asks Briony to give a letter to Cecilia, thinking it's an apology he's written. Briony reads it, but it's not an apology; it's a sexually explicit letter that Robbie had also written but never intended on showing to anyone. Briony thinks Robbie is a pervert. She later discovers Cecilia and Robbie having sex in the library (they did this after finally confessing their love for each other). That same night, Cecilia's and Briony's cousin Lola Quincey is sexually assaulted by Paul Marshall, a guest staying at the house. Briony assumes Robbie was the culprit, and pretends to have seen him do it. As a result Robbie is arrested and convicted.
After three years in jail Robbie has the option to go into the army, to fight in France against the Nazi army (WWII, May 1940), which he does. Cecilia left her family after Robbie's arrest and works as a nurse in London. Robbie and Cecilia meet briefly at a cafe before he leaves, and make plans to reunite at a cabin by the sea.
Robbie and Cecilia write to each other. In one of her letters, Cecilia tells him that Briony, to whom she has not spoken in years, has sent her a letter saying she wants to see her because she's sorry for what she did. Robbie is in Dunkirk at the French northwest coast, sick and hoping to return to England on the next ship in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Briony has given up her Cambridge dreams and is also working as a nurse, trying to find atonement for her sin. She starts writing a book, 'about a girl that sees something through her window and misunderstands it'. She discovers Lola is marrying Paul Marshall and attends the wedding, but doesn't dare to interrupt the ceremony. Lola recognises her and looks away in shame.
Briony visits Cecilia and Robbie, who is back from the war, and promises to tell the truth to her family and the authorities.
The film then makes the transition to an old Briony being interviewed about a book she's written, called Atonement. She says it will be her last because she's dying, but in a way it's also her first because she had been writing it since the 1940s, but never could find a way to finish it. She reveals that she never had the courage to go see her sister and apologise, and the happy ending of the book never happened as Robbie died in France and Cecilia drowned during the bombing of an underground station. She wanted to give them the happy ending they never had, after living a life of guilt for what she'd done.
The movie retains a 92% fresh rating on rottentomatoes.com based on 24 reviews.
In the novel, Briony writes the story of Atonement as a book, with plans for it to be published upon her death; Briony knows that she will die before Lola does, even if after the true perpetrator of the crime of 1935 for which Briony blamed Robbie. She wants the story told after those who were involved and who may stop publication of the tale die. In the film, the story is told as Briony is interviewed for television.
