Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-02-04
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Atonement reunites Keira Knightley with her Pride & Prejudice director, Joe Wright, for the movie based on Ian McEwan's book of the same name. The result? Once of the most widely acclaimed pictures of 2007.

Atonement tells the story of Cecilia Tallis (Knightley), and the housekeeper's son, Robbie Turner (played by the increasingly prevalent James McAvoy). Set during the heat of 1935, their coming together and the ensuing drama brings in Cecilia's thirteen-year old sister, Briony, whose actions prove to have far-reaching repercussions.

With a terrific cast and superb direction from the aforementioned Wright, it's utterly understandable as to how Atonement has earned itself such praise. Diligently told, with some superb photography, Wright is blessed by terrific central performances by Knightley and McAvoy, both of whom have never been better. His trick also is to get the pacing of the film bang-on, taking his time to build up and layer events before he looks for any kind of pay off.

As a result, as Atonement heads into its latter stages, it proves itself as a top quality drama, with a real emotional punch. Furthermore, it's one of the increasingly rare breed of films that sticks in your head for days after.

As a result, for once, it really is worth seeing what critics the world over have been raving about: Atonement really is something very special indeed. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia (Kiera Knightley) strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), a childhood friend who, along with Briony's sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge.

By the end of that day the lives of all three will have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had never before dared to approach and will have become victims of the younger girl's scheming imagination, and Briony will have committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will colour her entire life.

From the director of Pride & Prejudice and based on the novel by Ian McEwen comes "the best British film in years" - Sunday Times.

"As close to perfect as a movie can get" - Daily Mirror.

"An Essential" 5 Stars - Empire

Synopsis
On a sultry summer day in 1935, an upper-class British family prepares for a dinner party at their country estate. The participants include Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), a precocious preteen writer, her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley), Cambridge graduate and femme fatale, Robbie Turner (James McEvoy), the housekeeper's virtuous son, who carries a torch for Cecilia, and various visitors and family members. A series of misperceptions, fuelled by the summer heat and Briony's childish hurts and fevered imagination, lead to a dramatic false accusation that lands Robbie in jail. We meet all three characters five years later in the thick of World War II, as foot soldier Robbie prepares for the Dunkirk evacuation and the two estranged sisters train as nurses in London.
Director Joe Wright (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) deserves high praise for translating Ian McEwan's highly internalised, multilayered tale of guilt, redemption, and the power and limits of the artistic imagination, into a sumptuous visual feast that not only conveys the intricate plot points of the novel, but dives headfirst into the emotional subtleties that make the story so wrenching. Whether any of the characters' actions are ultimately atoned for by the end of the film is a matter of perception, but Wright's sympathetic eye ensures that every player gets a fair trial. The young director favours long, lingering close-ups that trace every flicker of feeling--Ronan's luminous blue eyes clouding over with righteous gravity; the tremors of hurt and anger and love in McEvoy's sensitive face; the defiant jut of Knightley's jaw as it melts into tender affection. The honey-drizzled look of the first two thirds of the film contrasts achingly with the tension and seriousness of the action unfolding (and the grim intensity of the wartime sections), and the scenes on the beach at Dunkirk include masterly camera. ATONEMENT is a powerful story, retold in a way that even diehard fans of the book will appreciate.

Customer Reviews

Lovely
Loved it, another example of me reading the book before i see the film. this worked well because the book covered elements of the plot which i thought were important which the film missed, and the film made the ending clearer because at this point i was bored of the book and just skimmed it. it was a lovely pleasant sad film.

Somewhat disappointing
Despite the critical accolades and awards, I found this movie quite disappointing. Based on a novel by Ian McEwan, and directed by Joe Wright (who had filmed the latest movie version of Pride and Prejudice, much inferior to the BBC miniseries), the bulk of the movie occurs in a British country house during one day in the mid 1930s, in which a crime might have happened of might have just been the figment of the imagination of a fevered child. The main characters will feel for years the consequences of what happened that day. Since I'm totally uninterested on the life of England's upper classes, I was quite bored during a lot of the movie. And as if that wasn't enough, the final twist of the movie (in which Vanessa Redgrave has a cameo role) is totally insulting, and makes the viewer feels cheated. The engaging presence of Keira Knightley and newcomer Saoirse Ronan are among the movie's few assets. On the other hand, the much praised scene set during the evacuation at Dunkirk is very show-offy in my opinion.

Movie Making for the Masses?
A film which requires the viewer to work for their emotional gratification is doomed to fail. My heart strings were left irritatingly unplucked due to the essentially teniuous nature of the story.
Atonement cleverly gives us the opportunity to see different interpretions of a situation. And then asks us to embrace its difficult theme.
The great and the good have hailed Atonement a masterpiece, I wonder if those people have watched enough movies.
The Shakespearean premise has been done better, the actors and script fail to compensate for a weak story, the photography interesting but.... and my lasting memory, disappointment.
Sorry, I can't join the happy throng on this one