— spoilers ahead!!! —
Atonement is one of the greatest films I have seen in last decade. At one level, it appears to be about the love between Cecilia from a wealthy family and a housekeeper’s son Robbie, and how their love (and lives) were tragically destroyed by Cecilia`s jealous sister Briony due to a misunderstanding.
At another level, the film is about the need of Briony to atone for her sins in destroying the lives of Robbie and Cecilia. We saw at the end of the film Briony at an old age, after living a lifetime of guilt, trying to atone her sins by writing a book called “Atonement” (significantly this is the name of this film itself!). The book (and the film) was now finally revealed as an imagined fairy-tale happy ending for Robbie and Cecilia that never occurred. In reality Robbie and Cecilia were already killed during the war. Briony tried to keep Robbie and Cecilia alive through fiction, as some sort of therapy for her guilt.
Why we need Happy Endings?
At the end of the film, we realize that the whole film we have seen was entirely Briony`s creation. We can no longer know what was supposedly real and what was merely imagined. During the opening of the film, the soundtrack appears to weave in and out of the sound of a typewriter, which comes from Briony’ typing. Watching this film the second time, I now realize that this perhaps is an aural symbol that the entire film is actually authored by Briony. The opening shot shows a model of the house that Briony and Cecilia lived in - another hint that what we are about to see is based on Briony`s imagination. Does this mean not only Briony’s viewpoint at the fountain scene, but also the supposed viewpoint from Robbie and Cecilia`s perspective when the scene was repeated were all Briony’s creative mind at work? During the 3d act of the movie, we saw the teenage Briony writing her book “Atonement” - a chapter called “Two Figures at a Fountain”, which was the fountain scene we saw earlier!
At a deeper level then, this film is about the nature of reality and how we human needs a happy ending even if it means distorting reality. We have military burial ceremonies to honor fallen soldiers, and we hear speeches proclaiming how their sacrifices are not in vain - that the world is a better place because of their bravery. Are we not trying to turn a tragic death into something more sublime?
‘You can only imagine the truth’
Taking this one step further, Briony herself is the creation of the director, screen writer, and author. Perhaps these three creators themselves were having their own personal atonement of some sort? Thinking deeper, when we watch any film, even if it is a documentary, are we not always shown things from the perspective of a mastermind that is hidden from view? And we as audience, are we not like Briony interpreting what we see in our own personal ways? If this is the case, is there truth at all? Do we not always inject our own subjective interpretation to any observed event? This reminds me of two other great films: Rashmon and Memento. Both films question the reliability of memory and how the human mind creates a “subjective truth”. Just like the poster at the top of this review says ‘you can only imagine the truth’.
Sight and Sound
Unique to this film is how the visuals of the film bleeds into the accompanying soundtrack. The perfect example is in the opening: you see and hear Briony typing, of which the sound became part of the percussion background of the soundtrack, as if Briony was still obsessively typing (this has a significant symbolic significance - that the film (book) is authored by Briony).
Another memorable one is during the 5 minute continuously shot Dunkirk scene: as we zoom in and see a choir of soldiers singing a song about peace, the lush background soundtrack gradually became a poignant harmonization of the song. As the choir gradually was zoomed out, the soundtrack continued while the soldiers’ voices faded out, creating an eerily haunting effect.
A Few More Poetic Things…
Here are just a few more poetic things I found in the film that is truly moving:
- the library scene where Robbie and Cecilia had their first open declaration of love and their first (and probably last) sexual intercourse. ‘Appropriately’ the way their bodies were positioned during sex was strange and grotesque, as seen through the eyes of an ‘innocent’ 13 year old Briony. (Don’t forget that this scene was narrated to us by Briony!)
- the scene when Briony consoles the dying soldier at the hospital: we saw Briony ‘entering’ through a red curtain the space where the dying solder sleeps, as if it was Briony’s entrance to a stage performance. Turned out the soldier mistook Briony as someone he loved, and Briony play-acted along.
- I particularly love the way the film uses water as a recurring motif. First we saw Cecilia going under water at the fountain - awakening of their love. Later we saw Briony tested Robbie by throwing herself under water - realization of rejected love. Finally Cecilia died drowning - reuniting with her love.
And there are two very ironic points about Briony:
- In the opening of the film, we saw young Briony finished writing a play, but no one seemed interested in playing the required parts. When the old Briony said Atonement was her last and also first book, perhaps she meant that her wrecking of the lives of Robbie and Cecilia was her first attempt in ‘directing and staging a play’, which turned out to be not play-acting but for real.
- The second irony is at the end of the film, old Briony was dying of a disease that will cause her to lose her memory. Throughout her life she was haunted by the memory of her sins, and now when she could finally be freed of it, she had decided to complete a book to safe-guard her memory.
