Atonement (2007)

All Critics (210) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (179) | Rotten (36) | DVD (18)

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 at Dunkirk.

October 18, 2008 Full Review

Bob Mondello

NPR.org

Top Critic

Atonement is a film out of balance, nimble enough in its first half but oddly scattered and ungainly once it leaves the grounds of the Tallis estate.

September 22, 2008 Full Review

Christopher Orr

The New Republic

Top Critic

Atonement's extraordinary qualities outweigh any quibbles.

January 18, 2008 Full Review

David Fear

Time Out New York

Top Critic

One of the few adaptations that gives a novel the film it deserves.

January 14, 2008 Full Review

Kenneth Turan

Newsday

Top Critic

The kind of classically contoured love story that American filmmakers have become (almost willfully) incapable of making anymore.

December 25, 2007 Full Review

Joe Baltake

Passionate Moviegoer

Top Critic

A film that instantly joins the ranks of the great screen romances.

December 20, 2007 Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

Atonement's goal is so ephemeral that film may not be able to do it complete justice. All that said, it's still a fantastic piece of craftsmanship, benefiting from loving direction and excellent performances.

December 28, 2010 Full Review

Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

An epic, grandiose, and immensely sad film, Atonement is an extremely well crafted, visually rich love story set during a tumultuous time of war, where two impassioned characters are forever torn apart by the selfish jealousy of another.

July 7, 2010 Full Review

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

Figurines in a teacup set, shipped over in boxes labeled 'For your consideration'

August 27, 2009 Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Frustratingly uneven, struggling to maintain momentum as it lurches through extended lulls and indulges in cliched genre affectations.

July 27, 2009 Full Review

Mike Scott

Times-Picayune

zaslu%u017Euje pohvale, ali ne onakve kakve bi trebao imati ozbiljni kandidat za "Oscara"

July 15, 2009 Full Review

Dragan Antulov

Index.hr

Players outshine the script

June 28, 2009 Full Review

S. James Wegg

JWR

Director Joe Wright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton tap into the underlying passion and pathos from which all the absurdity, irony, and poetry follow.

April 23, 2009 Full Review

Peter Keough

Boston Phoenix

Ranks among the best films of the year.

February 27, 2009 Full Review

Chris Bumbray

JoBlo's Movie Emporium

It's a romantic epic, set in the past, featuring some beautiful imagery, high drama and terrific performances from its small, all British cast. It's also (which isn't always a given when it comes to Best Picture contenders) a great movie.

October 18, 2008 Full Review

Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

Atonement may look and sound like a Best Picture candidate, but that's all Wright's doing.

October 18, 2008 Full Review

Jason Zingale

Bullz-Eye.com

As beautiful as it is thought-provoking and soulful.

September 2, 2008 Full Review

Heather Huntington

ReelzChannel.com

not a Jane Austin story, but it could be, if Jane Austin hardened up her subject matter a bit

August 17, 2008 Full Review | Comment (1)

Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

Few films this year were as magnificent looking and few as misunderstood.

May 15, 2008 Full Review

Nathaniel Rogers

Film Experience

[U]ltimately, the movie amounts to rolling lawns, lovely costumes, and characters that simply fail to resonate.

May 1, 2008 Full Review | Comment (1)

Alonso Duralde

MSNBC

Director Joe Wright is quickly establishing himself as a powerhouse adapter of period romance tomes.

April 15, 2008 Full Review

Mike Sage

Peterborough This Week

• 1. Robbie Turner: You'd be forgiven for thinking me mad - wandering into your house barefoot, or snapping your antique vase. The truth is, I feel rather light-headed and foolish in your presence, Cee, and I don't think I can blame the heat. Will you forgive me? Robbie.
  – Submitted by Ahmed A (4 months ago)
• 1. Briony Taliis aged 13: Yes, I saw him. I saw him with my own eyes.
  – Submitted by Rose B (10 months ago)
• 1. Robbie Turner: [to Briony] I'm torn between breaking your neck and throwing you down the stairs.
  – Submitted by Augusta M (13 months ago)
• 1. Tommy Nettle: Cheerio, pal.
  – Submitted by Brigita S (17 months ago)
• 1. Older Briony: So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness.
  – Submitted by Brigita S (17 months ago)
• 1. Cecilia Tallis: [crying] I don't know how I could've been so ignorant about myself... so... so stupid. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you? You knew before I did.
  2. Robbie Turner: Why're you crying?
  3. Cecilia Tallis: Don't you know?
  4. Robbie Turner: Yes, I know exactly. [kisses her]
  – Submitted by Brigita S (17 months ago)