Atonement

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Atonement" (Focus) is the moving World War II romance of Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley), a well-to-do young Englishwoman, and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the working-class young man she has loved since childhood.

When the story begins, Robbie, the son of the Tallis' housekeeper (Brenda Blethyn), is at the point of deciding to pursue medical studies. Cecilia's father has financed his education.

He and Cecilia have an easygoing, but often sparring, sort of relationship. After one trivial spat, Robbie decides to write her an apology note, but after he hands it to Cecilia's 13-year-old kid sister, Briony (Saorise Ronan), to deliver, he realizes with horror that he accidentally enclosed a draft in which he had inadvertently typed a crude sexual expression.

The precocious Briony reads the note before delivering it, and what she reads throws her into confusion. Meanwhile, Robbie has explained the mistake to Cecilia, who accepts his sincere regret, and the two declare their long-silent love, soon succumbing to a passionate (though fully clothed) encounter in the library. Briony barges in on them, and filters what she sees through her confused but hardened eyes.

Tensions are apparent at the dinner that ensues, and Briony seems poised to expose them, but before the girl can reveal what she's seen, a commotion ensues when two children go missing.

As the dinner-party guests comb the grounds, Briony discovers her friend Lola seemingly being assaulted by an older man, who promptly flees. Briony asks Lola if it was Robbie, though it's clear Briony knows it wasn't, and the frightened Lola goes along with the story.

Robbie is subsequently arrested and sent to prison. Years later, he is a soldier stationed in France -- he was told to enlist or remain in jail -- and Cecilia is fulfilling her wartime duty as a nurse in London. They have reconnected, and hope to reunite after the war. But Robbie's vow to return to her is interrupted when his battalion is stopped at Dunkirk.

To say more would spoil the story, but the action also focuses on Briony (now played by Romola Garai), now also a nurse, and we observe how her coldhearted act has continued to haunt her.

Director Joe Wright, working from Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, persuasively limns an unusual story of betrayal, steadfast love, forgiveness and redemption, but one with some surprising twists. Briony's ultimate atonement is not what the viewer expects.

McAvoy and Knightley's tender scenes together often recall the classic film "Brief Encounter," and Garai's ministering to a wounded French soldier is one of several outstanding moments. The lush period detail, including the tumultuous Dunkirk sequence, is a further plus.

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The film contains a fully clothed nonmarital sexual encounter, an implied encounter between an adult and an underage girl, use of the f-word among soldiers, brief profanity, wartime dead and wounded imagery, and a crude written sexual remark. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops