Atonement [videorecording] / Universal ; Focus Features presents in association with StudioCanal and Relativity Media a Working Title production ; directed by Joe Wright ; produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster ; screenplay by Christopher Hampton ; executive producers, Richard Eyre, Robert Fox, Ian McEwan, Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin ; director of photography, Seamus McGarvey.
James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Vanessa Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn, Juno Temple, Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Kennedy, Harriet Walter, Peter Wight, Daniel Mays, Nonso Anozie, Gina McKee, Jérémie Rénier, Michelle Duncan. Based on the novel by Ian McEwan. Special features: Deleted scenes with commentary from director Joe Wright; Bringing the past to life: the making of Atonement; From novel to screen: adapting a classic; feature commentary with director Joe Wright.
Summary:
In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner, the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia. He hopes that Cecilia has comparable feelings. All it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony - who has a crush on Robbie - is compelled to interfere. She goes so far as to accuse Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but, ultimately, he is arrested. Briony bears false witness and the course of three lives is changed forever. As Briony grow older, she continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.
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