by Sarah Arboleda

Created on: January 02, 2010   Last Updated: September 23, 2010

Atonement is a great example of a film too in love with cinematography to tell a good story. The look of Atonement could not be better: the long nightmarish tracking shot of a war-torn beach, the gorgeous contrast of Keira Knightley’s bottle-green gown to her pale skin and dark hair, the endless close-ups on meddling Briony’s large waifish eyes and flat blonde hair… every frame is like a painting. But ultimately that is part of the problem. Swept up in the visuals of Atonement, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that there’s very little storyline.

Short story shorter, Atonement is set in England during the second world war. Working-class Robbie is in love with his rich childhood friend Cecilia and the two share blunt, clipped dialogue that lets the audience know that the two are fighting to conceal their attraction to one-another. Whether they hide their love because of class conflict or good old-fashioned pride, we’re not too sure, but hide it they do.  More importantly, Cecilia’s little sister Briony also has a crush on Robbie.

On the night of a big dinner, Robbie drafts several versions of a letter informing Cecilia that he’s in love with her, ranging from sincere to vulgar. The vulgar letter – detailing what he’d like to do to her body – is meant as a joke, but naturally Robbie, rushing to get ready for the dinner at the last second because he’s spent all day sweating in a tank top in a shuttered room to let us know he is poor and handsome, accidentally puts the dirty version into the envelope, seals it and inexplicably decides that Briony should deliver it to Cecilia for him. Naturally Briony opens it, is shocked, but hands it over to Cecilia anyway. Robbie apologizes for the less-than-PC version of the note that Cecilia reads, but she’s okay with it and they have sex up against the family bookshelves – an act that, of course, Briony also bears witness to.

Later in the evening, two twin boys who had been staying at the house go missing and everyone starts searching for them. Briony tears after Robbie, and believes that she sees him raping a young girl. Briony returns and tells everyone what she’s seen. Robbie is arrested, and must either go to jail or join the army and fight in World War II. He picks the war.

From here, the story dissolves into basic brush strokes. Cecilia still loves Robbie and believes that he’s innocent, but the two can only see one-another when Robbie is briefly home from war. Briony slowly remembers and discovers more about what happened that fateful night that she accused Robbie of rape, and the film comes to an ending that seems muddled and leaves you feeling more than a little cheated. I won’t give away the particulars, but I will say that I hate when I’ve been forced to sit through scenes that I find out later “didn’t actually happen.”

The acting is all fine – both Keira Knightley and James McAvoy are suited to their roles as the star-crossed lovers torn apart by rumor and war, and the various Brionys (she goes from being around 8 to 80 in the film) are all okay as well. But the movie is ultimately swallowed up by its pretty glaze and attractive scenery, and by the end of the film I feel like I’ve been fed an oatmeal that’s been expertly dressed to hide its blandness.

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