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Herald rating: * * * * *
He may well be Britain's greatest novelist but the writings of Ian McEwan haven't exactly set the screen alight. Whether they've been one of the previous four film adaptations of his novels or from his own occasional screenplays, the results have
been decidedly uneven.
But now there's Atonement, a dazzling rendition of McEwan's 2001 Booker shortlisted work, widely regarded as his masterpiece for its synthesis of styles, allusions to other literary works, multiple character perspectives and its narrative sleight of hand.
All those layers and the ideas behind them - Atonement is essentially a story about storytelling - would seem beyond easy transition to a film, especially one that comes in at a taut two hours while still having the time for some stylistic flourishes like a four-minute continual shot which captures the grim madness of Dunkirk in the early days of World War II.
But somehow director Wright, doing his second Brit-lit flick after his 2005 take on Pride and Prejudice working from Christopher Hampton's screenplay, delivers the narrative complexity of McEwan's work with clarity.
There has been some sharp pruning and restructuring - especially in the later stages. But the heart of the story - and the mental dexterity of how it is told - remains in a film that is both intellectually intriguing and emotionally gripping.
Much of that punch comes from its many impressive performances.
Wright's casting of Knightley as P&P's Lizzy Bennet might have missed the mark, but she's spot-on as the brittle Cecilia Tallis, the eldest daughter of in the upper-class Tallis family we first meet in 1935 enjoying a languid hot summer's day at their country pile. Likewise James McAvoy as Robbie, the estate's housekeeper's son who, with the academic support of the Tallis family is attempting to escape his humble background, shows he's deserving of all the accolades headed his way.
But it's Cecilia's precocious 13-year-old sister Briony (the eerily good Saoirse Ronan) who, out of teenage confusion, sets in motion a tragic sequence of events which leads to Robbie's ostracism and worse.
The story leaps to 1940, where Robbie is headed to Dunkirk and the Tallis girls are both nurses in London with Cecilia hoping for a reconciliation with him and Briony (Romola Garai) still trying to make sense of the events of that summer's day.
You may well be doing that too long after the credits have rolled. Not because Atonement leaves questions unanswered, but because it is a movie of rare power which will linger in the mind.
Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Vanessa Redgrave
Director: Joe Wright
Rating: M, contains violence, offensive language & sex scenes
Running time: 123 mins
Screening: SkyCity, Rialto, Hoyts, Berkeley, Bridgeway, Lido, Matakana
Verdict: Much more than a period flick, it's a modern British classic