Finally watched Atonement
I don't know why I kept resisting this film for so long. From the point of view of it being a cinematic experience it was lovely. And of course I got to drool over my latest celeb crush Benedict Cumberbatch.
However, I don't think I share the majority opinion on who was actually atoning.
I saw a post on Dreamwidth that I had to respond to. It was basically taking Briony to task and saying that she never atoned at all because she never owned up to what she had done. I beg to differ and here is what I wrote.
Spoilers after the cut
This is going to sound crazy. But I've only just seen the movie today. And it occurs to me that you can argue away SOME of Briony's guilt. Look at it this way: the note might not have had the power it did if it hadn't then been followed up by seeing Ce and Robbie having sex in the library. Let's think about that from the mores of THAT time. Even today one doesn't do that in front of children. So why do it some place that someone, anyone could walk in? Especially when you know there are children in the house? But you could say okay they were carried away by passion. Okay. But they're still adults. They can't find a room? They can't lock the door? They can't restrain themselves and wait for a better moment?
But I think the real crux of the matter is that at least in the movie cause I didn't read the book, why did they just walk away and leave Briony standing there? There was no explanation. Now granted this was the 30s, people didn't talk about these things. But they didn't even stop to threaten the child into silence? If you don't have enough sense to be cover your ass after the fact, you can't object to the consequences later.
Is it possible that an alternate reading of the movie is that the sin was actually on Ce and Robbie for letting their passion be expressed at the wrong time and in the wrong place and then not owning up to it so that a traumatized child wouldn't go off the rails?
I mean if looked at that way, the atonement was all done by Robbie and Ce although they never recognized it as such. Briony really wasn't guilty of anything except being a child and not getting any adult guidance at a critical moment. So maybe Robbie and Ce deserved their fates. Because why didn't Ce ever speak up and say "I had sex with Robbie in the library" wouldn't that have given him an alibi? Perhaps not. But the letter combined with his relationship with Ce and the fact that he'd been looking for and actually found the twins would have cast doubt on the charge, put his character in a better light, and made Briony seem unreliable.
Again who really sinned and who was really atoning?
However, I don't think I share the majority opinion on who was actually atoning.
I saw a post on Dreamwidth that I had to respond to. It was basically taking Briony to task and saying that she never atoned at all because she never owned up to what she had done. I beg to differ and here is what I wrote.
Spoilers after the cut
This is going to sound crazy. But I've only just seen the movie today. And it occurs to me that you can argue away SOME of Briony's guilt. Look at it this way: the note might not have had the power it did if it hadn't then been followed up by seeing Ce and Robbie having sex in the library. Let's think about that from the mores of THAT time. Even today one doesn't do that in front of children. So why do it some place that someone, anyone could walk in? Especially when you know there are children in the house? But you could say okay they were carried away by passion. Okay. But they're still adults. They can't find a room? They can't lock the door? They can't restrain themselves and wait for a better moment?
But I think the real crux of the matter is that at least in the movie cause I didn't read the book, why did they just walk away and leave Briony standing there? There was no explanation. Now granted this was the 30s, people didn't talk about these things. But they didn't even stop to threaten the child into silence? If you don't have enough sense to be cover your ass after the fact, you can't object to the consequences later.
Is it possible that an alternate reading of the movie is that the sin was actually on Ce and Robbie for letting their passion be expressed at the wrong time and in the wrong place and then not owning up to it so that a traumatized child wouldn't go off the rails?
I mean if looked at that way, the atonement was all done by Robbie and Ce although they never recognized it as such. Briony really wasn't guilty of anything except being a child and not getting any adult guidance at a critical moment. So maybe Robbie and Ce deserved their fates. Because why didn't Ce ever speak up and say "I had sex with Robbie in the library" wouldn't that have given him an alibi? Perhaps not. But the letter combined with his relationship with Ce and the fact that he'd been looking for and actually found the twins would have cast doubt on the charge, put his character in a better light, and made Briony seem unreliable.
Again who really sinned and who was really atoning?