BEFORE: I've heard a lot about this film over the years, it seems to have gained something like a cult following - but it was on that list of "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" for just a couple of years, it's already gone from that list, to make room for more current films. What's up with that? As I mentioned the other day, I think it's much more likely that older films or foreign films would lose relevance among today's audiences - I can't quite understand why they just clear some of the most recent films from that list each year to clear spots for OTHER recent films. What's the point?
Nonso Anozie carries over from "The Grey" to get me to the first of my five James McAvoy films. February 1 will be here before I know it...
THE PLOT: Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
AFTER: This film is all about the repercussions of reporting a sexual assault Even though it's set just before World War II, what could be more relevant to current events than THIS? I can't make TOO many connections between this film and the #MeToo movement, precisely because "Atonement" depicts a false claim - or, rather, a real claim but a mis-identification of the man who committed the assault. And we're not supposed to talk about false claims now (cough - Aziz Ansari - cough) because we're all supposed to be listening to women that are speaking up - but I guarantee you, that's only going to last until a few more claims are found to be false, filed by women trying to use the recent scandals for their own benefit.
Another film stands accused of excessive time-jumping, in a non-linear fashion. A scene with the subtitle "Four Years Later" is followed by a scene with the subtitle "Six Months Earlier". Huh? Why did the movie jump four years ahead, only to then jump 6 months back - it's messing with me, right? Why not just show everything in the proper order, like go 3 1/2 years forward, then skip ahead another 6 months like a normal movie would? I can only hope this sort of thing was in vogue in 2007, and has since fallen out of favor, because of how manipulative it really is. Maybe THAT'S why the film is no longer on the list of "1,001 Movies to See Before You Die"? I guess now you can save "Atonement" to watch after you die?
Then there are several events that are seen twice, or maybe even three times, from different points of view. The second time we see Cecilia remove her dress and take a dip in the fountain, we find out the real reason for it, and there's a perfectly reasonable explanation, provided you're a British rich person. But do we really need to see this event twice, once from Briony's distant POV and again from close-up? Wouldn't cutting to Briony's view from the house, not being able to hear what's going outside, accomplish the same thing, without fracturing the time-stream? This repetition makes it seem like the event took place twice, and that doesn't make any sense at all.
I have a number of other NITPICK POINTS tonight, the major one concerns Robbie's "wandering" around in France as a soldier (after being offered the opportunity to enlist and therefore bounce out of prison). He's seen milling about with 2 other soldiers, but they don't seem to be a part of a larger unit, like a squad or a platoon. How is this possible? This was never explained to my satisfaction.
This leads to a big scene in the middle that is set on the beach at Dunkirk, where the steadicam follows Robbie and his two fellow soldiers as they cross the beach, past some horses that are being shot in the head, over and around some soldiers mucking about on a beached sailing ship, some other soldiers singing a hymn on a bandstand, etc. My boss says she hated this scene because of how manipulative it was - I didn't mind that, other than it felt really out of place in this film. (This technique was used to great effect years later in the movie "Birdman" - but since the rest of "Atonement" is not like this, it sticks out here as a sort of aberration.) Here it really called to one's attention that this is a scene, and it's being filmed, and that interferes with the suspension of disbelief.
But what really made parts of "Atonement" unwatchable was Keira Knightley, who seemed incapable of delivering any lines in a way that I could understand. She failed to enunciate most of the time, and said most of her lines too quickly, and after a while I just gave up trying to understand her, and decided to pick up the meaning of her lines from the context. The first rule of being an actor should be to say your lines in a way that the audience can understand them, so she failed that. Sometimes I have problems with thick British accents, especially Cockney ones. It could be 30 minutes into a film like "Snatch" or "Trainspotting" before something will click, and then I can understand the dialogue, but with Knightley here, that just never kicked in.
And then there's the big "sucker punch" at the end. Oh, those last few scenes that we showed you? Yeah, it turns out that they didn't happen. THEN WHY DID YOU SHOW THEM TO ME? Ugh, the only movie that I'll let get away with this is "Brazil", director's cut (of course) because Gilliam did it so deftly, but here it's just more cheap manipulation, an attempt to pull the rug out from under you at the last minute. To lull you into thinking everything might be OK, then here comes the rope-a-dope. I just don't know how this sort of storytelling is acceptable, given these circumstances.
Also starring James McAvoy (last seen in "Victor Frankenstein"), Keira Knightley (last seen in "Everest"), Saoirse Ronan (last seen in "The Way Back"), Romola Garai (last seen in "Scoop"), Vanessa Redgrave (last seen in "Foxcatcher"), Harriet Walter (last seen in "From Time to Time"), Patrick Kennedy (last seen in "London Has Fallen"), Brenda Blethyn (last seen in "Pride & Prejudice"), Juno Temple (last seen in "Lovelace"), Benedict Cumberbatch (last seen in "Thor: Ragnarok"), Daniel Mays (last seen in "Rogue One"), Felix von Simson, Charlie von Simson, Jérémie Renier (last seen in "In Bruges"), Alfie Allen (last seen in "John Wick"), Peter Wight (last seen in "Mr. Turner"), with a cameo from Anthony Minghella.
RATING: 4 out of 10 chocolate bars
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