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Losing heart

Deborah Ross

Wednesday, 5th September 2007

Cinema: Atonement

This is a film of great power but I could not find its heart which, I admit, may be my own limitation. I don’t think it’s the actors’ fault. Although Saoirse Ronan and Romola Garai (who plays the 20-year-old Briony) rather steal the show — both are revelations, particular Garai who injects her performance with great sorrow — the others give good accounts of themselves. Knightley is fine as Cecilia, playing her as the rather brittle, cool toff she is, while James McAvoy, who gets dishier by the minute, can come round to my place for German cake whenever he so fancies. I think it may simply all be a little too directorly. Some shots are so framed, so contrived, if you like, that you never forget you are at the cinema, or fully believe in these people as people. I include in this the already famous five-minute tracking shot of the sheer hell of Dunkirk, which is a technical triumph, I’m sure, but I never felt I was there; not for a minute. Plus, I think I should point out that although I’m a sucker for a tragic love story, and howled throughout The English Patient, I remained dry-eyed thoughout this. Lastly? My son has just acquired a German pen pal. Would it be best to intercept his letters, do you think?

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