A good film must pay attention to the performance of details. [Atonement]’s seven Oscar nominations can also be seen as outstanding in all aspects. Although it only won the award for the best soundtrack (as it deserves), it is already a British film and a young director with a relatively low level of qualifications. It is commendable, not to mention that the Venice opening film and the Golden Globe best film are already in the front.
I won’t talk about the long shot and the parallel structure of the subjective perspective and the audience’s perspective here, only the processing of some details. In terms of details, what [Atonement] makes me feel most is its exquisiteness. Although the film incorporates many expressions, it does not appear to be cluttered and abrupt. It requires a lot of details to complete the task of starting and transferring, and this is exactly where the director's skill lies.
Let's take a look at the visual aspect first. The first half: the set of shots of Cecilia before the dinner, which looks like a Chanel advertisement; Brioni in the shadow in front of the elegant wallpaper background is like a classical oil painting; Robbie looks up in the bathtub The warplanes flying over the skylight; the fairy-tale sunlight and colors in the manor’s exterior; the flashlight on the hill and Brioni in the vicinity when people are missing at night; the Cecilia’s family standing in front of the door when Robbie returns Wait. The second half: the brief sunshine after the haze in the jungle; the relationship between the people and the scene in the ruins; the flying fighter plane reflected in the river; the silhouette in front of the black and white screen in the harbor bar; the large elevation angle when going down the refuge; the backlight in the flowers Robbie; when encountering an old woman (mother's image), the blurring is also true and illusory, etc. The processing of multiple backlights, the design sense of the character's positioning route, and the tension of the composition are pleasing to the eye and never tire of it. Every angle, every lens is exceptionally particular, and you can even feel that the director has built a grand and complete image in his mind before shooting, so that he can have such a control ability. What's more interesting is that if you read it a few more times, you will find that almost every performance technique has echoes, which is quite intriguing.
The sound processing of the film is equally wonderful, like pearls scattered on the beach, shining with charming light from time to time. In the film, the double editing of sound effects and shots creates a combination of virtual and reality, breaking the front and back of the stage, as well as time and space. The background soundtrack often falls on the realistic sound effects, such as the rapid piano background soundtrack at the beginning. In the last play, Cecilia's lightly flirted; and like Brioni's last close-up of the typewriter soundtrack, the ending happens to fall on the sound of Robbie's lighter four years later; the flashback time goes back in time; the last scene The rewind sound effects, etc., these intentions in the sound effects and soundtrack give the film more emotion and interest, full and powerful. Similarly, you will find that many sound effects are handled in two ways, so I suggest you pay attention when you look at it again.
Finally, I will mention the elderly Brioni at the end. Although it was just a monologue, her performance actually incited the film. Looking at her restless eyes, slightly trembling and wrinkled mouth corners, desire The words stopped until the end was firm and indifferent, which made people feel sad.
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