Artistic Meanderings and Occasional Soul Searching

Finally saw Atonement

What was all the fuss about?  I think the film had much more weight at the beginning and end than some of the middle sections, which were sort of ho-hum.  The film’s opening is pretty scary; a whodunit balanced between manners, intellect, and passion, riding on the shoulders of a 13-year-old know it all buttinsky.  Oddly, since we didn’t see what happened in prison for Robbie after the false accusation and have to imagine it, his suffering isn’t that terribly palpable. You understand it intellectually, but not necessarily very viscerally in an emotional way.

One of my favorite parts of the first act was Robbie trying to apologize to Cecelia by typing her a note, while listening to La Boheme. I had read a section of the book awhile back and got spoiled as to what he wrote in his note, and was surprised to see that the “offensive” two sentences were not written in anger as I thought they were.   Cunt in this case (a word I loathe) actually makes sense in this context.  Robbie’s amusement at having written something so sexually crude in the moment made a lot of sense within the framework of the attraction and anger they were both experiencing but couldn’t find a way to express. Yet.

I was very moved by Briony at 18 finally learning how to care for another human being that didn’t involve selfishness on her part. And then Vanessa Redgrave bringing everything full circle as the elderly Briony. Yes, tears from me. But more from the humanity that grew from a pretty tortured woman’s life, searching for a way to express itself. Karma, it never fails. It’s a bittersweet tale to be sure but not the horribly tragic one people raved about. At least, I don’t see it. But to a certain extent very much enjoyed it, despite it being rather pedestrian next to films that have similar elements.