McAvoy and Knightley have dazzling chemistry together, whether it’s bickering by a water fountain or engaging in a steamy tryst in the library. You can’t take your eyes off either of them. The role of Cecilia seems tailor-made for Knightley’s statuesque grace and poise. While her character at first seems cold and snobbish, her delicate vulnerability shines through when she admits her feelings to Robbie in that fateful library scene. McAvoy is marvelous as a young man whose promising future is unfairly and unexpectedly destroyed. He deals with his situation with dignity, but bitterness, frustration, and anger lie just below the surface.

The three actresses who play Briony at different stages of her life remarkably convey the feeling that they truly are all the same person. Ronan sets the tone from the start with her mature, nuanced performance and Romola Garai follows suit as the 18-year-old Briony who deals with her feelings of guilt and regret. The last Briony is played by the legendary Vanessa Redgrave. Though she is only on screen briefly, she imbues her Briony with a quiet, wistful sadness.

It’s quite rare when all the elements of a film work together so well. It’s a tragic story to be sure, but the film itself is triumph.

Movie Grade: A

Synopsis:

The filmmakers of Pride & Prejudice reunite for a new movie, based on the award-winning best-selling 2002 novel Atonement, which is a classic British romance that spans several decades. Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's ("Pride & Prejudice" Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley) lover (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit.