My frustrating filmgoing

The review is long, so let's skip an intro and move right to my analysis.

Atonement should have been my perfect film. It’s a period piece – a British one, no less. It’s based on an acclaimed book. The star-crossed lovers remain heartbreakingly crossed – here, the result of the incorrectly vivid imaginings of a young girl. It stars actors I like, James McAvoy and Keira Knightley. Atonement reunites Knightley with half the creative team behind her 2005 Pride and Prejudice (No. 8 on my All-Time Favorites list), most notably director Joe Wright. It features gush-worthy clothes and makeup. So why, after two viewings, can I still not embrace this movie???

Let’s analyze Atonement to see if I can come up with a diagnosis.

▪ screenplay: Christopher Hampton delivers a mostly faithful adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel. The first 50 minutes are an almost-perfect rendering of the hot summer day, the momentous letter, and the circumstances Briony (here, Saoirse Ronan) gravely misinterprets between her sister and the gardener. The Dunkirk part remains troublesome, though; it brought the book to a halt for me, and Hampton can’t overcome that for the film. The major adjustment made to the last 10 minutes may have given us Vanessa Redgrave and an interviewer, but it softens Briony too much.

▪ acting: When I read Atonement, I couldn’t picture Knightley as proud, bored college grad Cecilia – nothing in her filmography (the Pirates franchise, Bend It Like Beckham) suggested she could transition from upper-class snob to devoted lover. How wrong I was. Knightley’s Cecilia is quick-tongued and haughty toward Robbie (McAvoy) as she masks feelings she may not even know she has. Once Cecelia and Robbie unfurl their passion, Knightley shows her character’s evolution through slower, more thoughtful speech and clandestine gestures. It’s a mature actress and woman before us, in love. Ah, love – how could any red-blooded woman not swoon over McAvoy? Robbie is smart, a servant’s son studying to become a doctor. He’s kind to Briony despite her troublesome crush. He looks great in uniform. Like Knightley, McAvoy gives his most adult performance, months after looking foppish as Jane Austen’s suitor in Becoming Jane. The casting of Briony at 13, 18, and 70-something is impeccable: Ronan, Romola Garai, and Redgrave share the same side-parted bob, round face, and cornflower-blue eyes, orbs that grow increasingly weary. Ronan grasps the prissiness of the teenage Briony. She sits primly and walks with her arms straight at her sides, with feet that come together precisely when she stops. Garai is subdued, appropriate for her growing regret, but perhaps too muted. Redgrave, wrapping up Atonement, gives an indelible image of sadness and release.

▪ direction: Wright’s cutaways are especially deft in the first third of Atonement. He and composer Dario Marianelli use repetitive piano keys to signal a change in point of view. In one scene, Wright moves from Cecilia diving into a pond to escape talk of Robbie to the object of her affection rising from a bath, dreaming of her. The director most effectively employs back-and-forth close-ups in time to an aria as Robbie and Cecelia prepare for a party. He types, listens to music, and smokes; she does her makeup (blotting her crimson lipstick to a stain), practices conversation, and smokes. As the recording peaks, Robbie types a fateful word, and Cecilia chooses a stunning green dress. Alas, Atonement can’t sustain this intensity after Robbie’s arrest. A five-minute tracking shot of Dunkirk is majestic, moving from stumbling drunkards to a men’s chorus on a burned-out gazebo; Wright contrasts a Ferris wheel with head wounds and shootings. However, it’s a distraction from the meat of the story. War-torn London doesn’t fare much better when Wright returns to Briony. The scrubbing she does as a nurse should serve as a metaphor, but because Garai cowers so much, it just looks pathetic.

▪ score: This is a major problem, particularly on second viewing. At first, Marianelli coordinates skillfully with the onscreen action. Piano keys move in time with Briony’s typing speed, then rise and fall as she walks through her bustling house. Briony and Cecilia have signature sounds: the typewriter for Briony, the flick of a lighter for Cecilia. Unfortunately, the score stops being complementary (which Marianelli’s P&P work was) and becomes overwhelming. It’s most obvious during the war sequences, when we go from subtle quiet during Robbie’s voiceovers to bombast accompanying the vast expanse of the beach and its carnage.

In conclusion: Atonement is a good film, but not a great one. Mostly impressive acting cannot make up flaws in source material, pace, and music.