Atonement (2007)
81%RT Audience Score: 80%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
51 wins & 149 nominations total
Atonement features strong performances, brilliant cinematography, and a unique score. Featuring deft performances from James MacAvoy and Keira Knightley, it’s a successful adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel
Atonement is like that one fancy restaurant that you go to for a special occasion – it’s elegant, sophisticated, and you feel like you should be wearing a suit and tie just to watch it. But at the same time, it’s a little unfeeling, like the waiter who’s just going through the motions. The visuals are stunning, though, and the tracking shot on the beach at Dunkirk is breathtaking. Overall, it’s a good movie, but maybe not one you’d watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon in your pajamas.
Production Company(ies)
Universal Pictures, Studio Canal, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment,
Distributor
Focus Features
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Stokesay Court, Onibury, Shropshire, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for disturbing war images, language and some sexuality
Year of Release
2008
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 3m
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Language(s):English, French
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 7, 2007 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 18, 2008
Genre(s)
Drama/Romance
Keyword(s)
starring James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave, directed by Joe Wright, written by Christopher Hampton, drama, romance, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Deborah Ross, Nell Minow, Bob Mondello, Christopher Orr, Alonso Duralde, Amy Nicholson, Jason Adams, Mike Massie, Josu Lapresa, Richard Propes, PJ Nabarro, Mattie Lucas, R rating, World War II, Ian McEwan, Cecilia Tallis, Robbie Turner, Briony Tallis, Grace Turner, cinematography, unique score, adaptation, betrayal, redemption, imprisonment, lie, jealousy, love, sex, memory, war, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan, Paul Webster, Focus Features, Dolby SRD, DTS, Flat (1.85:1)
Worldwide gross: $131,016,624
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $180,470,393
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 751
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 19,680,523
US/Canada gross: $50,927,067
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $70,150,089
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 919
US/Canada opening weekend: $784,145
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $1,080,130
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,271
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $30,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $41,323,854
Production budget ranking: 935
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $22,252,895
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $116,893,644
ROI to date (est.): 184%
ROI ranking: 668
Keira Knightley – Cecilia Tallis
Romola Garai – Briony – Age 18
Saoirse Ronan – Briony – Age 13
Brenda Blethyn – Grace Turner
Vanessa Redgrave – Older Briony
Director(s)
Joe Wright
Writer(s)
Christopher Hampton
Producer(s)
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
51 wins & 149 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Original Score Winners, Oscar Winners
All Critics (219) | Top Critics (64) | Fresh (182) | Rotten (37)
It is an elegant and sophisticated film, one that never condescends or shirks from the complexity of the novel and its grand themes – war, love, sex, memory, betrayal, redemption – but it’s also strangely unfeeling.
August 23, 2018
Deborah Ross
The Spectator
TOP CRITIC
February 14, 2012 | Rating: A-
Nell Minow
Movie Mom
TOP CRITIC
Joe Wright directs Atonement with an eye to framing each performance with spectacularly vivid images, including a genuinely breathtaking tracking shot on the bloody, wreckage-strewn beach at Dunkirk.
October 18, 2008
Bob Mondello
NPR.org
TOP CRITIC
Atonement is a film out of balance, nimble enough in its first half but oddly scattered and ungainly once it leaves the grounds of the Tallis estate.
September 22, 2008
Christopher Orr
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
[U]ltimately, the movie amounts to rolling lawns, lovely costumes, and characters that simply fail to resonate.
May 1, 2008 | Rating: 2/5
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC
TOP CRITIC
Sweeping, showy, and stiff, Joe Wright’s adaptation of Ian McEwan’s pedigreed bestseller traffics in florid staging and callow emotions.
January 29, 2008 | Rating: C+
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly
TOP CRITIC
We got a run of, again, very very pretty images that, for me, added up to a lot of pretty images that never got around to affecting me on an emotional level
July 2, 2021
Jason Adams
My New Plaid Pants
This level of storytelling and artistry is a rare treat, demonstrating director Joe Wright’s knack for working with adapted material.
November 24, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Joe Wright (director) and Christopher Hampton (writer) have not only built an exciting epic from the book, but also provide the visual discovery of an ending that was already outstanding in the novel, but… reaches new heights. [Full review in Spanish]
October 14, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Josu Lapresa
Cinemanía (Spain)
McAvoy, long an underrated actor and also a Golden Globe nominee, fares even better here as the wrongly accused Robbie.
September 2, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
Where Wright does succeed is in making absolutely lucid McEwan’s fascinating central theme of atonement.
October 29, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro
Every bit as emotionally affecting as it is visually sweeping.
July 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row…
Plot
When Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), thirteen-years-old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) at the fountain in front of the family estate, she misinterprets what is happening, thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola (Juno Temple) is raped, she tells the Police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for Atonement.
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