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turns to tell us the separate stories of Briony, Robbie, and Cecilia. Now that the screenplay’s not ticking off plot points in the lead-up to the Big Lie anymore, I was more at ease with the deliberate pace, willing to let the story proceed, for the first time, organically. There are some terrific moments in this middle section, most notably a haunting conversation between Briony and a wounded soldier at her hospital. The much-talked-about five minute tracking shot of Robbie wandering through a beach amidst the larger context of one thousand-odd British soldiers awaiting ships to retreat from Dunkirk is technically superb, but feels somewhat unnecessary, basically a stunt for film students to fawn over.
Maybe it’s just because I was expecting it. It’s worth noting that the film as a whole is also technically superb; I especially liked the music and the way the soundtrack subtly included the tap-tapping of a typewriter both as a reference to young Briony (there’s a subplot in the beginning about her writing her first play) and a hint of larger implications not addressed until the end.
Still, the middle section wasn’t entirely persuasive for me because I never found the star-crossed romance between Robbie and Cecilia to be very moving; both characters are surprisingly ill-defined, something that might be rectified in the novel but is not here. In the first section of the film, Cecilia is portrayed as nothing more than rich and selfish; in leaving her family and becoming a nurse, we imagine that she has become more down-to-earth and likable, but that’s something the screenplay never really illustrates. Robbie, meanwhile, is portrayed as nothing more than a really nice guy, and their romance together seems fueled by absolutely nothing but physical lust.
Then the end of the film employs a truly fascinating narrative trick that recasts parts of it in a different light – a twist that I wasn’t expecting and one that almost single-handedly rescued the movie for me (and one that even, sort of, excuses Robbie for seeming one-dimensional). When you think about it objectively, the twist should feel gimmicky, but somehow it doesn’t – instead, for the first time, I found myself truly invested in all three characters, only after finally knowing each of their fates. It is, perhaps, a better ending than this otherwise wildly uneven drama deserves.
The Special Features are standard-issue but welcome; in particular, the half-hour documentary on the making of the film is executed much better than most making-of docs. Perhaps in keeping with the uneven nature of the film, there’s a second documentary on adapting the novel to the screen, but that one’s only five minutes.
Also included is a feature commentary track by director Joe Wright and deleted scenes with optional commentary from Wright. The scenes are mostly more material of Robbie and his two soldier companions on their way to the beach; Wright reveals himself to be a thoughtful and easy-to-listen to presence, and one ...
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