The little boy Leo in "The Secret Envoy" and the little girl Briony in "Atonement" are both 13-year-old children. They are in a similar era. In the summer of the English country manor, they are intruders in the adult world. Seeing the secret love between adults earlier than their peers, and witnessing the collapse of the world of children, this is the education of growth.
Green is the color of summer, the color of nature, the color of the countryside, the color of children, the color of youth, green, immature, full of vigor and thriving. However, in that summer, it was red and green. Green is also the color of the devil. Leo's green clothes are even more direct and clear, highlighting his childlike identity, like an unripe fruit, while the thick dark green adds a heaviness to his youth.
There is a plant "belladonna" growing in the garden in "The Secret Emissary", and "poppy" (poppy to be precise, not the poppy that makes opium) also appears in large numbers in "Atonement", both of which are poisonous Beautiful plants, a metaphor for the hidden dangers of beauty, can be seen from a distance and cannot be played with. The English name belladonna comes from the Italian bella donna, which means "beautiful woman". In ancient times, women who loved beauty used belladonna juice to drop their eyes to dilate their pupils, and poppy was a flower for Westerners to commemorate fallen soldiers.
That summer, Leo was invited by his classmates to visit the country estate, and for the first time experienced the life of aristocrats, which was a very different world to him, and their behavior patterns were completely outside the scope of his experience. On the surface, they treated him very well, cared about him and liked him, and he gradually fell in love with Marian, the noble lady, so he acted as a messenger (Mercury, a messenger in Roman mythology) between her and the farmer Ted. He later learned that Marian was engaged to Hugh, the nobleman, and he peeked at Marian's letter to Ted, he cried, and he decided not to send letters for them. Marian cursed him fiercely because of this. It turned out that they treated him well and not for free, and he had to pay a corresponding price for it. Here, he became infinitely curious about the love between men and women, and even yearned for it, until finally he witnessed a scene that shocked him. He was just 13 years old and had grown up.
Unlike Leo, Briony is a noble lady herself, and the adult she observes is her older sister. Compared with Leo's innocence, Briony is more precocious, girls are precocious than boys, and she has a rich imagination. Briony peeked at the love letter that the servant Robbie wrote to her sister Cecilia, saw the ambiguous behavior between the two, and used her rich imagination to confirm their lover relationship.
In both films, both children peek at an adult's love letter, and both see an adult's intercourse. If the information conveyed by the text may be misinterpreted by them, then the physical intercourse is indisputable, and the shock that this brings to the child is indelible. In their eyes, the love between Marian and Ted, Robbie and Cecilia transcends the class, the family is not right, Ted and Robbie are not worthy of their identities. Leo and Briony both look at the relationship between the two lovers from the standpoint of aristocrats. It is worth mentioning that although Leo came from a humble background, because of his exposure to the aristocratic class, his identity was blurred, and he unconsciously regarded himself as an aristocrat. A member of the family, who views others with the eyes of an aristocrat, and believes that the elegant Hugh is Marian's wishful husband. That's why Leo refuses to deliver the letter and Briony misunderstands Robbie.
The elegance of the nobility and the vulgarity of the lower class seem to be the difference between clouds and mud, and love can transcend class, not only children do not understand, but adults do not agree. The natural contradiction upstairs and downstairs has always been one of the main contradictions in literature and film and television works, and the result of trying to break through the high wall of contradiction with love often ends in tragedy. These two films are no exception. Ted commits suicide by drinking bullets, Robbie is killed in battle; Marian has a lifelong hatred, and Cecilia dies unexpectedly. Tragic endings are often more moving, and more like a warning to people that love that transcends class will not end well.
In addition to the hero and heroine of the love story, what is the ending of the two children? Leo couldn't let it go until he was old, and felt a deep sense of guilt for Ted and Marian, and Ted wouldn't have died if he hadn't revealed their relationship. Briony spent his whole life atonement, and finally tried to fulfill an unfulfilled dream with a book. The two of them who entered the adult world too early have been burdened with the mistakes they made in their childhood all their lives. They can't get out of the heavy shadows, and their lives are only gray. However, adults also have inescapable responsibilities, and their sins take a small amount of time. The child takes responsibility, destroys himself, and also destroys others. There is still a time limit for atonement, and repentance will not help.
Two summers changed the lives of six people.
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