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Synopsis
Joe
Wright, the BAFTA Award-winning director of "Pride &
Prejudice," has reunited with his filmmaking team and his
Academy Award-nominated actress, Keira Knightley, for
another classic British romance, starring James McAvoy
(BAFTA Award nominee for "The Last King of Scotland")
opposite Ms. Knightley. Christopher Hampton (Academy Award
winner for "Dangerous Liaisons") has written the screenplay
adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling 2002 novel
Atonement. Shot on location in the U.K., the film's story
spans several decades. In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer
Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) 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 (Mr. McAvoy), the educated son of
the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's
headstrong older sister Cecilia (Ms. Knightley). Cecilia, he
hopes, 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,
going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not
commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each
other, but he is arrested - and with Briony bearing false
witness, the course of three lives is changed forever.
Briony 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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