Atonement

Atonement had all of the buzz that accompanies an Oscar season movie.  And I’m glad to report, most of that buzz was well deserved.  The film is quiet, beautiful to look at and at times infuriating in its complication. The film stars Kiera Knightly as Cecilia Tallis and James McAvoy as Robbie Turner.  Robbie works on the Tallis estate and in a moment of boyish foolishness he writes a note to Cecilia that he never intends to send.  But send it is exactly what he does.  Confusing it with the real note, he hands it over to Cecilia’s little sister Briony, played by Saoirse Ronan, who runs off with it and, of course, reads it before turning it over. Now, it’s important to note that Briony has quite an imagination and is also fond of being the center of attention and in control.  She sets off a sequence of events, based purely on her own perception, that she is unable to ever right again.  Robbie is sent off to war and Cecilia turns her back on a family that wouldn’t support her.   The film was very lovely.  In places the pace slowed to a crawl and the story derailed a bit (like during a spectacular ten minute shot, created in one take; gorgeous, but dull), but I believe the feeling you get is the same as when you finish a great novel.  You close the book and take a moment to relive the events and characters.  You just can’t let it go immediately.