| Atonement (Full Screen Edition) | 
 enlarge | Actors: Keira Knightley, James Mcavoy, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Harriet Walter
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $3.18
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Avg. Customer Rating:  252 reviews
Sales Rank: 4218
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 123
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 61033286
UPC: 025193328625
EAN: 0025193328625
ASIN: B0013XZ6XE
Theatrical Release Date: January 4, 2008
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) gives Ian McEwan's bestselling novel a sumptuous treatment for the screen that should come to be regarded as one of the defining films of the epic romantic drama. Indeed, everything about this film stems from those three words: there is little here that is not epic, romantic, and dramatic, and Atonement is a film that masterfully expresses the overarching sense of adventure and emotion that such stories are meant to convey. In this instance, the story centers around the love story of highborn Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and housekeeper's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy, in a star-making turn), in England shortly before World War II. Despite their class differences, they are powerfully attracted to each other, and just as their relationship begins Robbie is tragically forced away due to false accusations from Cecilia's younger sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan). She has a crush on Robbie, too, and after reading a private letter he sent to Cecilia, and then witnessing the first expression of their mutual love but mistaking it for mistreatment, her resentment grows until it leads to her telling the lie that will send Robbie away. Soon World War II breaks out; Robbie enlists and is posted to France, Cecilia is a nurse in London, and Briony, now age 18 and aware of what she has done, tries to atone for her actions--but none of them will be able to get back what they have lost. Knightley and McAvoy are perfectly cast as the young star crossed lovers, and the young Ronan is particularly impressive, but it's clear that the real star of this film is the director. Wright allows Atonement to revel in every moment of its story and each scene is compelling in its own way, but that now famous extended shot with Robbie on the beach at Dunkirk--filmed in one take and sure to be considered one of the great long tracking shots in film history--is the most memorable moment in this remarkable film. Atonement is an excellent example of what can happen when a great book meets great filmmaking. This is one that is not to be missed. --Daniel Vancini
Stills from Atonement (click for larger image).
Product Description
From the award-winning director of Pride and Prejudice comes a stunning critically acclaimed epic story of love. When a young girl catches her sister in a passionate embrace with a childhood friend her jealousy drives her to tell a lie that will irrevocably change the course of all their lives forever. Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley and James McAvoy lead an all-star cast in the film critics are hailing "the year's best picture" (Thelma Adams US Weekly).System Requirements:Running Time: 123 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE Rating: R UPC: 025193328625 Manufacturer No: 61033286
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| Customer Reviews: Read 247 more reviews...
 A little long in the tooth, didn't captivate October 15, 2008
Bottom Line: Toss up
Haven't read the book, so I can't compare the book version to the film version.
I thought some of the shots, were very clever..and some very different which was nice. And how the editing captured the tension, thought that was clever as well. Loved the music with the imitation of the typewriter keys.
The sex scene, could have been a lot better. It was different, in how they shot it. But it didn't seem to portray the heat of the moment, in the way they shot it, what they focused on, and what they had the actors doing or not doing.
And it felt like, either the author of the book didn't have the depth in his story and characters, or the screenwriter didn't do a good adaption of it from book to script, or the director didn't wasn't pulling that intensity out of the actors for it to make it to the shot. I know both the main actors, can do intensity..but I didn't feel the depth of how they felt when I watched them on the screen..they didn't burn for each other.
Overall, it seemed pretty long and drawn out.
 unintended catastrophe October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This film opens in 1935 at a spectacular estate in the English countryside, takes us to the bloody beaches of Dunkirk, and then ends in a television studio sixty years later. The well-to-do Cecilia falls in love with Robbie, the son of the housekeeper. Thanks to Cecilia's father, Robbie attended Cambridge and has plans for medical school. Cecilia's younger sister, Briony, also had a crush on Robbie, so when she watches a scene at the estate fountain, reads a love note never meant for anyone's eyes, and interrupts an embrace in the library that would shock any thirteen-year-old, she reacts in fear. Briony tells a lie about a family tragedy, the consequences of which are catastrophic for everyone, especially for her own mind and soul. Briony spends her entire life seeking atonement, and at the end of the film we're not sure that she has convinced herself, much less the audience. Atonement earned seven Academy Award nominations.
Atonement For My View of the Book September 14, 2008
Having put the novel down after almost 100 pages, I rented this DVD with trepidation. Either I missed the point of the book, was having a bad week, or this director magically took dry prose and breathed life into it. First rate story, acting, music, and even tears at the end made this a bravo performance and merited the Academy Award nomination. Highly recommended. (And, yes, I will try the book again).
One of the strongest movies of 07 September 10, 2008
James McAvoy gave the best performance in Atonement. I didn't think I would think that but he was terrific. I would give him an Oscar nomination for sure. Redgrave's eyes at the end tell all. Seriously you didn't even need her tremendous speech because it's all in her body language. Garai is great during and after her encounter with the french soldier as well as the apartment scene. The praise for Ronan doesn't capture how good and natural she is. Knightley was fine but doesn't rate with any of the Briony's or McAvoy.
The cinematography in the movie is remarkable. Not only for the stunning tracking shot but for when Briony goes into the library. The way the light comes off that hair thing and then the lamp.
The script was a very good adaptation of the book and the direction of Wright couldn't be better.
A BITTERSWEET ROMANCE, MAGNIFICENTLY MADE September 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
More than one of the great romantic films of all time, "Atonement" is a pure masterpiece utilizing a three-act structure spanning several decades that begins in an English manor house before World War II and proceeds through the war and after.
The main character is a 13-year-old fledgling writer, Briony, whose imaginative sensibilities congeal with her infatuation with a man who loves her older sister to result in dire consequences she only later understands. From the dramatic and passionate momentum of its early sequences underscored by a music score utilizing a typewriter in its orchestration, it brilliantly employs both child and adult points of view to relate the story of a great romance that is disrupted from the events that occur.
If the story and screenplay seem to have "Doctor Zhivago" characteristics, Joe Wright's magnificent and sensual direction brings out all the passion and tragedy with a beauty that is reminiscent of David Lean at his best. There are camera shots in this film that will continue to haunt my memory for years. Three soldiers trek through a fog-filled landscape past a running brook as planes of war hovering in the sky overhead are seen only as a reflection in its waters, an awesome image like a great painting. But perhaps its greatest shot is a long Orson Wellesian single take, one tracking shot following the Battle of Dunkirk that lasts maybe 8 minutes that, in its emotional context, could reduce you to weeping.
Keira Knightly and James McAvoy are the lovers, and Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave portray the girl Briony through different stages of her life, in this heartbreaking and perfectly directed masterpiece that you will not easily forget.
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