Prime Video movie of the day: James McAvoy and Keira Knightley star in a ‘ravishing romance’ with 7 Oscar nominees
Atonement is a very beautiful film about a terrible lie and its awful consequences
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Nominated for seven Academy Awards and garlanded with praise from critics worldwide,Atonementis an exceptional movie. Based on the book by Ian McEwan it’s an epic, haunting and tragic love story set during the Second World War, and it features not just great writing but some great performances too.
The Guardianlooked like it’d run out of superlatives: its review says the movie is lavish, spectacular, gobsmacking, extraordinary, clever and compassionate, “a film which aims at big ideas, and it treats us like grownups”.
Is Atonement worth streaming?
Definitely. It’s a film that had the critics absolutely enraptured, with the legendaryRoger Ebertsaying that it “begins on joyous gossamer wings, and descends into an abyss of tragedy and loss”. Without giving the plot away it’s based on a misunderstanding and a lie told by a teenage girl, and that lie has terrible effects not just on her, but on others too. The lie, Ebert says, “destroys all possibility of happiness in three lives, including her own… How many films have we seen that fascinate in every moment and then, in the last moments, pose a question about all that has gone before, one that forces us to think deeply about what betrayal and atonement might really entail?”
The wartime setting means that the movie delivers some visceral scenes, asNPRreports: “Joe Wright directs Atonement with an eye to framing each performance with spectacularly vivid images, including a genuinely breathtaking tracking shot on the bloody, wreckage-strewn beach atDunkirk.” And theSan Jose Mercury Newssaid that “in its first 45 minutes,Atonementachieves a kind of perfection rare even for big Oscar-bait movies. Every facet of the filmmaking is the equal of any picture released this year. The rest of the movie isn’t so bad.”
Empiregave the film the full five stars – it’s “complex, delicate and devastating” and features “gorgeous cinematography, a lilting score and near-faultless performances” – while theNew York Timespraised it as “a sweeping, tear-jerking love story”. As novelist Ian McEwan told the newspaper: “it’s not often the case that British movies are so good-looking. They usually have a kind of documentary feel. But this one has stunning landscapes and gorgeous camerawork.”
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.
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