The story of "Atonement" has a very long time span, the scenes are constantly flashing back and forth, and the plot clues are mixed.
The first half of the film is about the mistakes made by the young Briony, which led to Robbie's wrongful imprisonment and participation in World War II, and also destroyed the happiness that her sister and this young man may have. The middle section will show the cruelty in the magnificent war scenes, contrasting with the extreme contrast of Robbie's loneliness and fragility, but still trying to overcome many hardships and wanting to return to love, focusing on the redemption and warmth of human nature in the face of the cold reality. The second half revolves around Briony's realistic behavior of trying to redeem himself. The wounds in the battlefield hospital, which are more bloody and cold than the battlefield, shocked Briony's will and simultaneously shocked the emotions and emotions of the audience. Human beings are still vulnerable in the cruel war and in front of them, but they are still redeemed in the strength and tenderness in the face of suffering. The film returns to the theme at the end, echoes the beginning and the end, points out the truth of the story, and expresses Briony's redemption and human redemption in the dual meaning of literary writing and his own behavior.
The movie scene is divided into three parts. First, in 1935, the ancient manor filled with aristocratic atmosphere in the countryside of England adopts the subjective perspective of Briony, a thirteen-year-old girl; second, four years later, the real perspective of the old Briony, which has been verified by research, is developed from the perspective of Robbie. During World War II, Robbie joined the British Expeditionary Force directly from prison and retreated to a small village in northern France until the beach at the Battle of Dunkirk in World War II in 1941; three, London cafes, six Months ago, from Robbie's true recollections of six months ago on the battlefield to the scene before the enlistment, where Cecilia was reluctant to part with her lover Robbie; fourth, London, three weeks ago (Dunkirk in the summer of 1941. Three weeks before the Great Retreat, and three weeks before Robbie's death), the field hospital where Briony's act of redemption took place. This is Briony's fictional scene. In this scene, she apologized to Cecilia and Robbie and achieved redemption; in addition, she completed her own human redemption through her actual affairs in the hospital to save the wounded; fifth, contemporary. Elder Briony gives a radio interview to tell the truth about the narrative of his last work.
The biggest highlight of "Redemption" lies in its narrative method and the revealing and performance of the intricate depth of human nature that runs through the film from beginning to end.
In "Atonement" we can see a lot of flashbacks, and each replay of the shot makes a clear interpretation of the previous shot. The director sets the suspense with the subjective perspective of the film's narrator, Briony, through a positive narrative, and then gives the answer through a de facto flashback replay, thereby promoting the devious development of the entire storyline. As the plot unfolds, the puzzles are constantly being revealed, and the understanding of the plot becomes deeper. At the end of the final movie, it gave the audience a blow: it turns out that the first half of the reunion Yanhao, where a lover ends up getting married, is entirely a fictional ending fabricated by Briony, but the truth of the story is that both lovers are killed. The author is out of the ultimate in human nature. Caring only gives the hero and heroine a happy ending.
"Atonement" is also very good at portraying the emotions of the characters. Briony's performance when she was young vividly portrayed the neurotic imagination, conceit and jealousy intertwined with the creative characteristics of a family girl, with rich and complex emotional subtleties and rhythms; similarly, Robbie and Cecilia's youth The subtlety and irritability of love, including Marcel's lustful eyes and Lola's first appearance of amorous feelings, are quite vivid and chewable. Cecilia at the beginning of the movie is extremely amorous and seductive. She loves Robbie, but she is sarcastic and prefers the more passionate display and agitation of Fielding's works. The steady and good Robbie is in stark contrast to Cecilia. In the second half, Cecilia becomes steady and firm, her burning love temptation and gentle and firm eyes become a strong will to appease Robbie and return to love. Robbie's performance is very moving and heartbreaking throughout the film. From Robbie's nervous and upright back when facing the temptation of Cecilia to stand up from the pool and the tension of holding the handle of the vase, to Robbie's understanding and tenderness when facing her mother's thoughtful dialogue, and the anger of Briony who was struggling to rescue the drowning Briony by the waterfall With Yin forbearance, the fragility and affection of missing his lover on the battlefield, and the tenderness and fragility of the girl killed and wounded in the battlefield are all very moving. If Robbie's tenderness and affection as a man are the most touching, Briony's strength as a woman and extraordinary firmness and flexibility are most memorable.
On the surface, the film is a "typical British romantic romance" with Robbie and Cecilia as the protagonists. In fact, considering the deep meaning of the story, it is obviously not a movie with romance as the main line. Just as there are comments that the original novel is mainly a war novel rather than a romance novel. It reveals the truth of literature or romance. In addition to Robbie's full and complete character and performance, Briony's strong character as a real and literary character is carried through throughout the film, and the character's personality is more abundant and profound. When she was young, she was immersed in her own world of imagination and fiction. Briony's appearance is always accompanied by clear and rhythmic typing sounds outside the screen. Briony's romantic and creative literary imagination and sensitivity lead to the catastrophic tragedy of a pair of happy lovers. Her performance in the field hospital was extremely pragmatic and brave. She has spent her whole life searching for the truth of the work of the catastrophic reality she created, and she told herself to write down the truth in its entirety, without rhyme or rhetoric. But these truths are too cruel. She wrote almost her whole life, but in the end she could no longer imagine the meaning of all this, the meaning of telling the truth or the meaning of reality. Telling the truth of reality in romantic literature, borrowed from the last work of an elderly Briony. His romantic literary works focus on expressing the meaning of truth, which is the ultimate concern in the sense of human beings.
The movie "Atonement" was adapted from the novel of the same name published by Ian McEwan in 2001. The novel was well received, sold and won awards as soon as it appeared. However, there were rumors that the novel was suspected of plagiarizing another famous British novelist. Lucia" Andrews' 1977 autobiographical novel No Time for Romance. Judging from the plot development of the movie's story, this title is indeed very close to the theme of the movie. Robbie and Cecilia's romantic moment in the study led to a lifetime of tragedy, Briony's written narrative and imaginary romance resulted in a lifetime of thorny road of redemption. The truth narrative of reality does not need any rhetoric and embellishment, and any superfluous thing is a waste and blasphemy. However, no matter what, the film or literature itself still conveys the meaning of the ultimate human concern through art. Robbie and Cecilia failed to relive their happiness, but still achieved the warmth and depth of human mutual love through Briony's narrative of war and truth.
There are many more highlights of the film. Director White is indeed a master of romance. The film has been carefully adapted to give this acclaimed literary work a captivating cinematic flair, and it's refined and polished thanks to the excellent performances of the actors and the handling of the director. The film's soundtrack and pictures are beautiful. From the perspective of theme and depth of performance, Atonement is a good movie with a macro-scale production. It is rare to see such a wonderful film these days.
Director Joe White once directed "Pride and Prejudice", and the heroine is also the "Pride" film Jane Austen. And the male lead is Lefroy in "Becoming Jane Austen", a very hot male star. Briony's three age groups perform quite well.
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