England, 1935. A precocious girl named Briony blames her sister’s lover (the housekeeper’s son) for a crime he didn’t commit. This simple act of immature cruelty has vast implications for the rest of their lives.
Briony is played by three actors – at the ages of 13 (Saoirse Ronan), 18 (Romola Garai) and as an elderly lady (Vanessa Redgrave). Keira Knightley plays her wronged sister and James McAvoy plays Knightley’s lover, sent first to prison and then off to war. Benedict Cummerbatch and Brenda Blethyn also feature. I’m not especially keen on the aesthetic, but the soundtrack – with rhythms built around the pounding of a typewriter – perfectly suits the mood and builds tension when needed.
A lengthy, unedited shot showing the soldiers on the beaches at Dunkirk is incredibly panoramic and impressive.
The film cleverly jumps around in time and perspective, but the storytelling is so lucid that this never becomes tricksy or confusing. It tackles issues of class and social inequality, along with deeper questions about morality. It’s to the credit of McEwan and director Joe Wright that no easy answers are given and religion doesn’t even get a look in. There’s no easy “forgiveness” to be had here. The bleaker message is that you can spend a lifetime atoning for a moment’s misjudgement and never erase the damage you have done.
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