Did you ever date a handsome and proper, yet boring man? This is “Atonement.” It’s lovely and elegant to look at, very in-order, but completing lacking in fulfillment. Based on the very fulfilling 2002 novel by Ian McEwan and directed by (“Pride & Prejudice”) Joe Wright, comes the story of Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) the perfect “Little Miss Manners” candidate, who at 13 possesses all the right British snobbery and literary genius one hopeful writer could want in the next great novelist. But when Briony falls in love with her sister, Cecelia (Keira Knightley’s) lover, Robbie (James McAvoy), an unexpected crime leaves the best written material dropping in her lap. A story that will rip them apart for good. This series of events become the catalyst of the movie which spirals Robbie’s remaining years on a downward trend of prison, and eventually war in France, 1940. This period piece circa 1935, much like Wright’s directing, is certainly charismatic, but somehow with nothing quite going on. While Wright’s direction is so specific – every shot set up like a fine piece of art on the mantel – the movie does so much work for the viewer that one never has to bother immersing themselves. Keira Knightley is undoubtedly this generation’s Audrey Hepburn with her exquisite and elegant features, but while she’s a skilled actress, one wouldn’t call her a great actress. That said, Vanessa Redgrave’s bit-part portrayal as the older Briony, leaves us feeling stricken with the loss she caused all those she loved. And for one moment, makes us almost like the story. Two tiaras
