Who else have experienced deciding to watch a movie just because you're bored, but then it ends up sitting on your chest like a weight? I have and that's exactly how Atonement was for me. I did not plan to take the movie seriously at first. I thought it was just another old-time love story with fancy English accents and gowns. But this movie caught me off guard
The Plot
The movie begins in a big fancy house owned by the Tallis family. Cecilia (Keira Knightley) is the older daughter, elegant but stubborn. Robbie (James McAvoy) is the housekeeper's son. He is smart, hardworking and basically like family to the Tallis. From the start, these two had feelings for each other but were too proud to say it.
Cecilia's sister, Briony (Saoirse Ronan). She is 13-year-old but she has this wild imagination. She is a writer, always spinning stories in her head. One day, she sees something between Cecilia and Robbie, an argument by the fountain. To her young eyes, it looks suspicious but she doesn't understand that what she saw was actually charged with attraction. Later, Briony happens to read a private letter Robbie meant for Cecilia. And of course, it's not the innocent version but the explicit one he accidentally sent. Now her imagination goes wild. Briony convinces herself that Robbie is "dangerous".
The night of the same day, Briony witnesses a terrible incident: her cousin, Lola, is attacked in the dark. Briony doesn't see clearly who it is but in her mind, she decides that it must be Robbie. And here's where the damage is done. Briony accuses Robbie and everyone believes her. Then Robbie, the man Cecilia loves, is dragged away in handcuffs.
From this point on, the story breaks apart. Robbie goes to prison, then to war, trying to earn freedom. Cecilia cuts herself off from her family and stands by him. And Briony, as she grows older, begins to realise the full weight of her lie. The rest of the movie shows their separate path through the years. Robbie in the chaos of a war, Cecilia as a nurse and Briony trying to "atone" for what she did as a child.
And then the ending... the ending is the kind that would leave anyone hollow. You think, maybe, just maybe, love will win after all but the truth is far crueler. What Briony gives us in the end is not what really happened but her own version of it. Her own way of trying to undo what can she can never undo. The twist at the end made me pause the movie and just sit there. I was actually wishing the movie had been kinder.
Quite frankly, this movie was magnificently well done. The clothes,acting, and cinematography, everything was top class. But what makes it unique in its own way is the emotion it leaves behind. It doesn't give comfort and doesn't hand a happy ending. It left me with reality and the reality in this movie is cruel. That is why I think it really resonated with me, because life is not always fair. Love does not survive, People don't get the chance to fix what they break and are left with just memory and remorsw. That is what Atonement captures so well.
The characters were also very good. Cecilia and Robbie played their parts perfectly. I could feel in the electric in their scenes. Especially the library scene, whew.
And that ending... I still cannot get over it. I don't even want to spoil it too much just in case you haven't seen it, because you would need to feel that gut punch yourself.
Atonement deserves a 9/10 ⭐️ rating from me. The movie was really heartbreaking but was worth every second I spent watching it.