Young Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) has always been fascinated with writing. That day she was having a hard time convincing her visiting cousins Lola Quincey (Juno Temple) and her twin brothers to practice a play she just wrote. Out of frustration she went to her room and witnessed from her window her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the son of their housekeeper (Brenda Blethyn), in an act she perceived to be sexual tension between the two. She didn't realize that the two are actually in love although they have yet to figure out their feelings for each other.
Soon after, Robbie decided to write Cecilia a letter explaining his behavior. On his way to the Tallis' mansion for a dinner with the family, as per the invitation of the eldest of the Tallis siblings Leon (Patrick Kennedy), he chanced upon Briony and handed her the letter so she could give it to Cecilia herself. It was rather late when he realized that it was the wrong letter, the one with explicit content. Unknown to Robbie, Briony read the letter prior to giving it to her older sister, and she started to believe that Robbie is a sex maniac. When Briony gave it to Cecilia, the latter made the former confess that she did open the letter from Robbie.
Prior to the dinner, Briony again saw Robbie and Cecilia, this time making love for the first time, at the library. Both kept their composure upon seeing her, but Briony again thought of this as an assault to her sister.
At the dinner table, Briony is asked by her mother to fetch the twins, only to return later to tell them that the boys have run away to return to their own home. A search immediately followed and Briony goes off alone to look for them. Her search turned futile, but what she witnessed was even harder to bear. Armed by a flashlight, she saw Lola being raped by a man she assumed to be Robbie. After her confession, everyone now believes that Robbie is indeed Lola's attacker.
Meanwhile, Robbie is seen returning to the estate, with the twins in tow. He is then arrested and thrown to prison as they based the arrest on Briony's testimony alone.
As the movie moves four years forward, we now see Robbie as a private in the army, after being released in prison on condition that he enlists. He reunited with Cecilia before his deployment, and promised to return to her after the war. On the other hand, Cecilia is now a nurse in the London corps, and so as her sister Briony. Cecilia however has stopped contact with her family after the tragic incident.
After attempts of trying to contact Cecilia, Briony was unsuccessful. One day she saw her cousin Lola on TV, with her fiance Paul Marshall (Benedict Cumberbatch), who owns a chocolate factory. It then occurred to her that it was actually Paul, who was a guest of their brother Leon that time, who raped Lola, after having visions of the night the crime happened. She actually saw his face, right before she dropped the flashlight to her feet.
Briony then decided to go to Lola's wedding. The couple just passed her by, with Paul literally dragging poor Lola to the door. Afterwards, she went to see Cecilia on the last address that she was able to secure, and there she saw Robbie, too. She confessed what she now knows to be the truth and she is willing to testify. But after having been convinced by the two to tell all that she knows to a solicitor, it dawned on them that Paul cannot be implicated now that he has married Lola already. He's got immunity after all.
And now we have an elderly Briony, now a known English writer, in a show talking about her latest novel ATONEMENT. She admitted that it is her last (since she is dying of dementia) though this is the first one she actually wrote. The novel, she said, is autobiographical, though she had to change some events. She also revealed that Cecilia and Robbie actually never saw each other after Robbie enlisted, for Robbie died prior to their evacuation while Cecilia was one of those drowned in a tube station a few months after Robbie died. Briony was sorry for everything she did, and that with the novel she wished she could have made things different for her sister and her true love.
Quotable Quote:
"So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness. "
- Briony Tallis
*****
Based on a novel by Ian McEwan, this film is definitely one of the best I've seen lately. It's a perfect combination of romance, mystery, drama, and suspense. I sooo love James in drama, and Keira, oh my, she really is an awesome talent.
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