ANALYTICAL ESSAY

Cinematographic Analytical Essay

Cinematographic Analytical Essay

Introduction

I have choosen the film Atonement for analysis. Atonement is a 2007 film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel of the same name, directed by Joe Wright, based on a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, and starring James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006 in England and France. Distributed worldwide by Universal Studios (with the North American release handled through its Focus Features division), it was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 7 September 2007, and in North America on 7 December 2007.

Atonement opened the 64th Venice International Film Festival, making Wright, at the age of thirty-five, the youngest director ever to open the event. The film also opened the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival.

The film won an Oscar for the Best Original Score at the 80th Academy Awards, and was nominated for six others, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan). At the 61st British Academy Film Awards, it won the Best Film of the Year, and the Production Design award.

Atonement was met with high praise from critics upon release last year, and went on to win Best Film at the Golden Globes. Adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan and directed by English director Joe Wright, Atonement is a lush tale of lost love and burning regret spanning three distinct periods in the life of its central protagonist. The film is at times discomforting in its juxtaposition of beauty and brutality, but by its conclusion is certainly a moving and rewarding piece of cinema.

The Story of Atonement

Atonement begins in 1935 where thirteen-year-old Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is forever changed after witnessing the sexually charged interactions between her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy). Feeling both confused and betrayed, Briony makes a fatal mistake when accusing Robbie of a sinister crime, plunging he and Cecilia's future into terrible uncertainty. Five years later, Briony is a nurse during the War, and is desperate to make amends.

During this time Cecilia is also working as a nurse while Robbie is serving on the frontline in Dunkirk. Briony finds herself still very much estranged from the couple despite her best efforts to apologize and set things right. These experiences are recounted by the elderly Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) in the modern day. During a television interview in which she discusses the autobiographical nature of her book, Briony reveals the devastating truth of her life and the consequences suffered by those closest to her.

Strong Direction and Performance

The greatest strength of Atonement is its strong and compelling story. It covers a range of emotional and thematic territory that transcends both time and place. Director Joe Wright has done an excellent job in translating this story visually, particularly in the way he juxtaposes the dream-like English countryside and mansion of the first act against the bleak war-time setting of the second. These visual contrasts lend the film an unpredictable ...