oscar wilde I agree, I think. All I meant was that each life is an opportunity in and of itself for choice as is almost every moment in it. Towards the end of ones life that notion can become quite hard to bear.
In my opinion Briony is still a coward. She waited until everyone died off before she completed her novel. So she won't feel the sting of the guilty looks from various family members. I can't say she went completely without consequences because her guilty conscience followed her for the rest of her life.
J.R. M you don’t get the meaning of the movie. She didn’t finish the novel until the end of her life because she wanted them to live in her imagination until her death. Bringing a closure to the novel was letting them go forever. The only way for her to keep them alive in her imagination was working on the novel for her entire life. Such a beautiful story.
@@manchesterr85 that’s still selfish? To live in HER imagination forever? To give her peace of mind? To give herself a false sense of tranquility that she could manipulate the story to make herself feel better? To not have to live with the repercussion of the novel release because she would be dead already? Idk mate she still seems pretty selfish to me, doesn’t mean i don’t think this is a masterpiece but this lady never cared to even try to come clean with her sister. Nothing. She put herself first
@@aprildew9099 debatable though dude because she's just trashed her whole persona and reputation. She could have just not said anything. Great discussion though.
@@manchesterr85 No matter how much people twist it, Briony deserves the deepest corner of hell when she dies. I don't understand how anyone can have sympathy for such a low bitch.
@@VuTran-mf7kj they have "pity" for her & ignore Robbie's mother who had to see her only son's despair . That rich lying brat doesn't deserve any pinch of sympathy! She manipulated the story & what many people don't understand is she isn't a reliable writer. She couldn't let the truth stand even in the end , she viewed Robbie & Cecelia as her characters whom she could control instead of real people. The "I wanted them to stay alive in my imagination" bs is for people to sympathise with her. Robbie's mother screamed "you lairs" when they were taking him away & she heard those screams but still stayed silent , can't imagine how she could sleep with that. If anything Briony still didn't change & didn't even show herself fully guilty of what she did. Seems to me she was content with life after she gave herself a happy ending by believing in her own imaginative lies.
No. She lived a whole peaceful life without ever thinking of revealing the truth. Then she waited until she was near death to give out the truth to try earning a ticket to Heaven. That's all.
@@VuTran-mf7kj She lived 'peaceful life', but her mind was never at peace. She still wore the same hairstyle throughout her life, which is like she's stuck and never moved on from her past. It was a fake peaceful life.
@@VuTran-mf7kj In the book, she says that she couldn't publish it while Lola and Paul Marshall were alive, because they would sue. Also, Briony states that she's an atheist. Or, rather, in her opinion, a novelist is like God: a novelist creates the world, populates it and decides the fates over his/her people. One finds atonement with God, but because Briony is a novelist/atheist, she had to find atonement in herself.
I read the book first, I'll never forget it. We were in a little bookstore in Key Largo, and I asked the guy to recommend a book for me to read while we were out on the boat. He didn't hesitate, and handed me Atonement.
The real irony was, both Robbie and Cecilia died young, waiting on each other with longing and hope.Probably not knowing what happened to each other. Briony was the one left with all the regret and memories, she hurt herself the most..
A burden that was self inflicted and caused the paramount of life changing events for Robbie and Cecilia She deserved it is a strong, but she had all the chances to end it not carry it However we wouldn't have had a masterpiece without it
One way to look at it is that she gave them their false happiness in order to feel better about herself. Since she's dying, it could offer a feeling of closure for her.
That last image of Cecelia under water is a sad parallel to that scene at the fountain in the beginning. The beginning and end of her love story was her under the water.
Very interesting, because Robbie got scared that Cecelia might drown in the fountain, or at least it seemed that way to me. He was worried for her, wanted to save her, felt relief when she came out of the water. He didn't want to do the same for Briony when she was in serious danger of drowning caused by herself, but he did it anyways, but was mad about it (understandably so). He didn't love her the way he loved Cecelia. And then, when Cecelia actually drowned in the end, Robbie couldn't save her... The parallels hurt so much.
Water is what first ignited their love, when he saw her in the fountain, and water is what reunited their love, when a flood took her spirit away to rejoin his.
If this isn't the epitome of being so connected emotionally as an actor and delivering such a beautiful soliloquy, then I don't know what is. It's as Shakespearean as could ever be, with real depth, honesty, feeling, and emotion. One of the most moving scenes that ever was in cinematographic history. Watch and listen to the simple and heartfelt words, phrasing, and body language with nothing but herself to deliver this piece de resistance of acting magnificence. Show me anything that can equal this masterpiece performance. This scene alone should have won an Oscar. Unbelievably real. This is as good as an actor could ever become. Gifted beyond compare. Bravo!
absolutely devastating. saw the film once, loved it. one of my all time faves but I can never see it again, the feels gets too much like damn. the ending just, wow. amazing.
I understand you, after I watched the movie the first time I never rewatched it for years. But then I did and now I rewatch it 1 or 2 times a year, ofc always crying, and I love it more and more every single time!
I think the great thing about this ending is Vanessa Redgrave's delivery... "I gave them their happiness..." There's the sense that even as she says that line that you can tell she means it but she also questions and doubts herself. She wants to believe she's doing something good, but you can tell she knows still deep down inside of her somewhere that she's also maybe still lying to herself. It perfectly strikes a balance between her trying to do right but hinting that she also knows she isn't. I love that dichotomy it presents. It's someone so far gone and facing their final days that they have to believe in something positive, she's effectively trying to convince herself... even though I think it's implied that she truthfully knows that she can never take it back no matter how much she 'does right by them'. The combined desperation of trying to make amends and her seeming to know that she can't is just so tragic. Yes of course I think the story and the chain of events maybe makes it hard for us to feel really sorry for her but just the general theme and concept of what the story is about... that we all make choices in our lives that some times we can never take back... and the process by which we try to make peace but never are sometimes able to... that to me, regardless of the character which that story is told through, is just so moving. Yes, she's a character that is complex and may not deserve to be seen as tragic, but the fact that some people in life make wrong choices that ruin the lives of others and they have to live with the loss of the loved ones knowing those lives were taken in part due to their terrible mistakes, that is tragic...
Her hair never changed. As a child, a young woman, and now an old lady. So, did she ever change? Or is she just the same old child? Even her clothing is reminiscent. And the release of the book is on her birthday, it's her gift to herself, the gift of atonement through her sister's and Robbie's happiness in her novel. But really it's all fiction, it seems she's trying to convince herself more than anyone. That she "gave" Cecilia and Robbie anything other than misery which they lived with til the day they died. She was a child, and children do things that go beyond the word childish. Yet, it wasn't til she was dying that she decided to give a public face to her greatest shame. Her mother, her father, their family, (Though I think her brother's alive in the books and he has his own family}, Robbie's mother, the people who mattered won't know. Some say better late than never, but when show up with only a minute left . . .
Beautifully written. I wouldn't read too much into the hair though. Having similar hair and clothes is just a very typical trick to make different people of different age look recognizable as one specific character.
@@sunnysolaris23 Yes, but little things like that can be symbolic in movies which is why I think they were questioning that consistent style choice throughout all the stages of her life.
@@linas2969I agree I see her hair actually as her “character” or maybe visage. It worked on the kid briony but it looked goofy on her older versions lmao. Though across the three actresses the hair helps tell the story 🤔
I have to agree with you on that one AK-oi7ch. She may have been wracked with guilt her entire life as she should have and may even have been genuinely sorry for her foolish, selfish actions that destroyed two innocent lives but their happiness was not hers or anyone else's to give. The reason they were happy to begin with is because they were both pure-hearted souls who fell in love. Happiness was something they created for each other and not something that could be given to them in a book of fiction.
Agree 'I gave them' incredibly problematic, but at the same time if we didn't have that version of happiness that Briony created, we wouldn't also truly understand what was stolen from them. She made real what they were deprived of so that it could be fully seen and the weight of that loss felt. If the book had just been the true events it wouldn't have the emotional impact. She condemns herself by creating a version where Cecilia and Robbie get their happiness, and I do think if there are so many brutal, unresolvable tragedies such as occur in a war, it does seem kind to offer peace where you can - and the only place she could do that was in fiction, because the reality was too far gone to repair. It's a gift to them and an exposure for her.
How a lie destroyed 2 lives, but she never atones only in her mind does briony constructs this , a happy ending in the memory of Robbie and Cecelia. She wanted a happy ending but lost cause, it never changes the fact that by her word she imprisons Robbie with a childhood err and drives the wedge between both sisters .... Robbie and Cecilia are doomed though they passionately love each other.This was not atonement, but her wish as a writer to let them live conceals her lies . Honestly she killed the two people who meant everything to her...imho
I so agree. The story is called Atonement but she never amended anything. Writing a happy ending for them doesnt change how miserable you made them when they were alive.
True, but her childhood lie did not just destroy Robbie and Cecilia's lives, but also her own. Briony was a child on the brink of puberty, but only on the brink. Not quite understanding sexuality, never having noticed before that her sister and Robbie, who she adores in a very childlike fashion, are in love. The very day that she starts to notice things - by accidently reading Robbie's letter (the 'wrong' letter he never meant to send to Cecilia in the first place because it's the frustrated outpouring of his frustrated desire for her), by seeing flashes of things (Cecilia wet next to the pond, sharing strange looks with Robbie, the kissing scene in the library, etc.) - the very day she start to notice things, is the very fateful day her older and far more knowledgeable about sex cousin is raped. The things her cousing tell her, the raunchy bits from Robbie's letter, the strange tension between Robbie and Cecilia and Briony's fertile writer's brain all combine to make Briony utterly believe that Robbie wants to hurt Cecilia. HAS hurt her, in fact. We know, because we are adults AND we are shown the things Briony does not see, that the tension between Robbie and Cecilia is merely that of two young people very much in love, but from young Briony's perspective, things look very different. So her lie, whilst still a lie in the strict sense is not really a lie in the broader sense. She utterly believes that Robbie is a 'sex maniac' who wants to hurt her sister. And so Robbie is whisked away, Cecilia is furious and leaves home and Briony is protectively hidden away at home and only starts to realise that she was wrong, that what she saw was not the interaction of a predator and his prey but of two people who desire eachother, when she is years older. By that time, war has broken out, Robbie is in Dunkirk and Briony starts nursing wounded soldiers. She hasn't seen Cecilia ever since that fateful day, but wants to talk to her. To atone... only for it to be too late because Robbie and Cecilia die at the very start of that war..when Briony isn't very much more than a teenager. So while Robbie and Ceciiia are the victims, I can't help but feel sorry for Briony as well. Her childish misconstrueing of events and her one lie destroyed not two lives but three; Robbie's, Cecilia's and her own. And yet, Briony is an unreliable narrator... because people don't get convicted of rape on a single lie by an eleven year old, made at a single occasion. If there had been a proper investigation, and she had been questioned by police, or by a lawyer at the trial, she would not have been able to keep repeating that lie. Turns that her rich and important family took measures that she would not be questioned by police, which is why Cecilia fell out with her family. Robbie had been the family's pet project, after all. The son of a servant with brains and a talent for learning, so the family paid for his education. But pet project or no, he was not supposed to marry the daughter of the house, and when he is accused of rape, it's a handy excuse for them to 'get rid' of him. But in Briony's mind, it was HER fault, and her fault alone, which ruined Robbie and Cecilia's lives, and she lives her entire life under that huge block of guilt and remore, wanting to atone, and never being able to. It's a brilliant film, with the same sense of unescapable doom as a Greek tragedy.
The lie destroyed far more than 2 lives. Robbie and Cecilia obviously, but also their families were torn apart, Lola never got justice and even wound up MARRYING her rapist, and even Briony destroyed her own life forever by living in constant guilt, a successful writer maybe but she was completely alone and hated herself
@@oliviapete Small note about Lola, Briony may have lied but that was because Lola gave her the insinuation that Robbie did it (several other factors included). While Lola is a victim she was also complicit in lying for Paul. Paul was going to marry her even if the rape wasn’t brought up. He’d marry her even if Briony accused someone else. Despite all that, it was completely normal for women to marry their abusers around that time, considering the alarmingly high rate in which women were abused around those times, it’s not a stretch to say they’d been assaulted before then. Bottom line, Briony is not at fault for Lolas conclusion, that ball was rolling as soon as Paul set his eyes on her.
This movie shows us that the last person to forgive us for our sins is ourself. No one hates what someone’s done more then the person who inflicted that pain.
There is a special place in my fictional characters Hell for Briony. This movie (and especially the brilliance of James McAvoy) makes my heart brake over and over. I can truly handle watch clips of it only after years at a time. This is Art well done.
When I first watched this I was shocked by the cut to the present day. It’s so jarring in the best way. And what a plot twist! Gotta be one of the most devastating twists of all time. It makes you question literally every scene involving Briony because it exposes her as an unreliable narrator, despite her good intentions at the end of her life. This film is a knockout.
I think this ending speech is about responsibility that only a writer can feel: you can create a peace of reality if you're good enough and people buy and read your books. She 'd lost her chanse to fix things in reality so she had to choose: lay down and die of guilt or became the person who could recreate some small peace of reality and make people believe in it, so a little echos of her sister and her lover became real and happy for a nanosecond somewhere in infinity. Yes she will never do right, she simply cannot do it, but she did something without knowing if it makes any sense. You have to be very strong or very desperate to do something like this. I recognize McEwan in it. I think it's gorgeous. When you feel there's nothing you can do you still can do something.
vanessa redgrave is such a GOAT. an unbroken 5 min monologue that ties the entire movie together. i watched this when i was a kid with some friends and we were horsing around, laughing at the sex scenes, not paying attn, making fun of the movie for being disjointed and confusing and slow. then this scene happened and we were just sitting there in riveted silence as it all snapped together. stunning movie.
I love Vanessa Redgrave so much, such a wonderful actress I remember seeing her in a play in London and she was absolutely amazing. One of the saddest movie plot twists always makes me cry.
Such a painful, poignant ending. I pitied Briony too; she had to live with knowing the misery of two people was the direct consequence of her actions, when she was just a little girl with a crush.
I don't hate Briony. Although she did something so terrible, it is obvious that she would give her own life to repair her mistake. She knows that she can't atone for what she did, but she tries, in fiction, to give her sister and Robbie the happiness they deserved.
I know same. Obviously she was a foolish, naive, and maybe even selfish when she was a kid but she was just a child and even though it really sucks all the pain she had caused you have to realize that as she got older and matured she understood and felt very guilty for her own fault and amended it in the end. She did the best she could in the end.
She felt guilty because, in the end, Robbie and her sister died during the war and never had the happiness she felt they deserved. Yet, lost in all the emotion is the foolishness and innocence of her guilt. Did she bomb London herself? Did she cause disease to spread among the Allied troops? Yet, she carries guilt as if she could have stopped these forces that killed millions. I think her response is very human and shows what a great person she is inside. But, it's completely foolish. The war killed millions upon millions, two of which were Robbie and her sister. It simply wasn't her fault at all. And it wasn't because of what she did when she was 13......She imagines Robbie to be very angry when he sees her. I imagine Robbie to be very happy, he begs for her forgiveness because he knows he should have said something that night in the library......he should have said something to help the child understand, he just didn't know what to say.
@@davidking4838 remember the novel is written in Briony's point of view & she isn't a reliable writer! If anything , Robbie , Cecelia & Robbie's mother deserved sympathy not that rich lying brat of a girl. She lied abt it even tho she knew he didn't do it . She could hear his mother's screams when she yelled "you liars" as they were taking him away but she still stayed silent. She had 3 yrs time to talk to her own family abt it , her sister & bring him out. She waited till she was 18? Robbie was her crush so it's obvious that she had retaliation against him after she saw him & Cecelia all over each other at the library , she couldn't stand seeing them together. When she got older she waited till it was too late cuz then they won't ever be happily together. Briony as a young lady , was alone & no man could replace Robbie for her. She was probably hoping that Robbie would forgive her & love her instead of her sister. She said she was a coward to face her sister even tho she knew her address. And even at 77 , she didn't show herself fully guilty. She manipulated their truth , their story to escape from her conscience. All the happy ending crap was not for them , it was for herself .
She’s a coward, she always was and still is. I don’t hate her either. That ending in her book wasn’t for them it was 100 percent for her. She allowed a rapist to run free, only revealed the truth of Robbie only decades after his death, and still didn’t choose to tell the truth in her book, rather create a more marketable story both for the readers and herself. Basically as an act to forgive herself. I don’t hate her tho, because I know she’s suffered every day of her life knowing what a terrible thing she’d done.
People can make terrible mistakes when they are young with no life experience or judgement. Briony's mistake had terrible consequences. Most people are more fortunate and their mistakes don't destroy other people.
Not only did Birony learn her lesson but she transmuted her pain and guilt into something greater. Art. That’s what the film is about, the redemptive power of art.
Very interesting take on it. Most would see it the opposite. That even in the end, she was foolish and naive to what she's done and that her gesture to "give them their happiness" to be utterly misguided.
This is the saddest ending ever. Cecilia and Robbie didn’t get to live their life that everyone deserves. I even sympathise with Briony which makes it even more sad
Briony was a stupid and spoiled child. She was in love with Robbie and because of her jealousy and her overactive imagination she blamed Robbie. Of course, she can't take the whole blame because Lola and the perv orchestrated all that as a cover up and she fell in their trap. Later, when she grows up and realizes her crime, she punishes herself for atonement. She rejects Harvard and becomes a nurse like Cecilia because she doesn't deserve been happier that Cecilia. She can't feel happiness or satisfaction or redemption and the guilt haunts her all her life because Cecilia and Robbie died and they never had a second chance after the war. They missed their first chance for happiness before the war because of Robbie's imprisonment. Even if Robbie wasn't imprisoned both of them might have died during the war, but they would have lived few years of happiness. In the end of her life, Briony feels that in real life she can never be atoned for her mistake, so she gives them their happiness in the novel. Robbie and Cecilia will live happily forever through her novel, though she will be long gone. She doesn't seem to fell redeemed and she is obviously still feeling guilty but this is, as she said, a final act of kindness before her death. After all, she is a renowned writer. That's the only thing she can do.
@@xidiamond6851 well, Lola was underage so technically she can't consent to a sexual act, but she falsely blamed Robbie and helped Paul and eventually they got married and let an innocent person rot in prison. That's why they felt shame when they saw Briony at their wedding.
@@flightofthestars that's how they get away with it. The doting and attention (which makes the child feel special), is used against them by making them 'complicit'
This is a classical example of the Cause and Effect Law, which is a Physics one. She destroyed the life of two human beings only by whim. She was in love with Robbie and she was mad and jealous when she found out he and her sister Cecília were in love, so she wanted to separate them and she did. Since the Law of Cause and Effect is infallible, she ended up very sick, alone and feeling awfully guilty for what she did to both of them.
If this happened today Robbie would've been put on the horrible/heinous/unjust sex offender registry & forced to register as a sex offender for whatever amount of time
It's heartbreaking to know when you have destroyed someone's life, even when it's done unintentionally. You cannot ask for forgiveness when those whose life were destroyed already gone. It's a burden you have to carry your entire life. This movie resonates with me so much.. I don't think I can forgive myself, at least not in the near future..
Chanel Miller is a real life example of someone who's great lie not only destroyed an actual innocent person's life and reputation beyond repair but also robbed their future. Brock Turner was factually falsely accused & wrongfully convicted.
@@goldenvulture6818 "non-opinionated" haha that's funny. Brock Turner assaulted someone without consent and got caught in the act. The only reason his life was destroyed waws because of his own personal choices.
Ultimately I think the saddest part of it all was wanting to beg for forgiveness and have no one to try to obtain it from. That, however, was still on her. Living with that burden all your life must have been haunting. I don't think I could've done it.
This was an excellent movie adaptation of a fine novel. They got it right for a change, especially the casting, and particularly Vanessa Redgrave’s final scene.
I love movies like this despite how terribly tragic they are because there are so many different perspectives, I love seeing others comment their different opinions on Briony’s character
Movies can change your life, well, art in general can change your life. Possibly, that is the reason why art has been in the humankind history since it started to be created by the first genius.
I needed to read this book for an exam, and after seeing the length and knowing I’m not a fan of reading, I decided to look at the film as a sort of summary before the exam. “I’ll just quickly get it over with I thought to myself, can’t be bothered, but let’s quickly see what it has to offer.” And holy hell, what a damn movie!!!! Maybe I should have read the book😂
A type movie that is never made in a history of cinema. A movie that is so rare and not a single scene of the movie is copied. A movie that is very - very close to the 90% of human reality and truth about life and dosen't get that much credit and appreciation, dosen't get that much award and viewership and should won the oscar and much more recognition. Feel bad for the movie - "ATONEMENT". Pls watch🙏 whoever's reading this. You ll not dissatisfied.
Such a movie. This final scene gutted me as a teen when I first watched it. The hollow feeling followed by tears was such an experience. A very sad one.
"So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for and deserved." And guess whose fault that is? "Ever since I've always felt I prevented." Bingo.
I think Cecelia’s death has to be one of the most frightening things I could imagine when I saw this years ago as a young teenager. I had a nightmare about drowning after I saw the movie.
What I find interesting is that she supposedly is facing atonement for her lies. Yet, she lies again to her readers. They never had a happy ending because she lied and yet again she hasn’t learned anything cause she lies to everyone about the truth of this book she wrote.
We hold onto honesty and reality like childhood cuddly toys and yet most of the time we find most comfort in fiction. Not in the untruth of it but in its possibility to change the wrongs we have done. Only in fiction can we ever truly atone for our mistakes.
She is a monster.. she outlived everyone just so she could tell the truth about her devilish “mistakes” before a minute she dies. Not even a single family member did hear about it because she was too scared. No, you didn’t give them their happiness.
Vanessa Redgrave lost her daughter, Natasha from a ski accident concussion. In a way, this is cathartic for her. Imagine the regret of not insisting Natasha see a doctor immediately, and later having her pass away, so preventable. Vanessa, I feel your pain. This was such a moving scene but so understated. You just feel those blue eyes boring into you, searching for salvation.
Before seeing this movie many people told me that I was going to hate Briony. The truth was I doubted it because I thought "It is almost impossible for me to hate Saoirse Ronan, she is my favorite actress”. After watching this movie I realized what an incredible actress she is and also how well the other women who played Briony acted. What a son of a $&@/ is Briony 🤬🤬
Human beings make mistakes, which can lead to deadly consequences. This movie shows how someone who cannot turn back time can somewhat atone for what they have done. Atonement is not about everyone forgiving you for what you’ve done, it’s about learning to forgive yourself.
You travel through life, its lefts, its rights, and this scene is like reaching the horizon, what you understand meeting a sage would be like. There's no further to go. Consciense is the only meaning to life.
I watched this movie once. I utterly loved it in every way you can live a movie: from its technical beauty, to the screenplay, the acting and the story. But it let me so scarred that I cannot watch it again. It’s too painful.
This scene is even more devastating with the knowledge that Vanessa Redgrave has lived 14+ years after her scene partner here, Anthony Minghella who was 17 years her junior.
I know what it's like to live with regret, guilt. Not to this extent and I pray I never do but there are times I regret my choices and think 'what if'. Or wish that it was decades ago and I could make different choices so that my life would be different. I guess I'm running from my own past choices as well because I tend to write fiction and dwell on history. At times, I'd think that I'd prefer to be in the worlds I create or have another life in the far past rather than this one. And then I remember that in the past, things would've been harder than today. Or when I stop writing, I feel like I'm waking up from a dream and realize that I'm actually flesh and blood, not one of the characters. And I pray again that I can better myself and help others so that I don't have more regrets at the end of my life, whenever that may be.
Oh Briony! what a mess. This late confession, is it to protect your reputation as a writer? You outlived both Robbie and Celia then decided to give them a fantasy ending. I cannot forgive you, but that says something about me 😨
But she's not protecting her reputation... what's sad is that she really thinks she witnessed something and in a way she had. Lola was underage, so even if Paul had her consent it was still rape... they just manipulated her into believing the assailant was Robbie. It's hard say whether this was an easy or difficult task, as Robbie was Briony's crush she may have refused to believe such ill of him but wanted to punish him for not being hers.
I saw the movie about 15 years ago and although I think it's an absolute masterpiece, so far I have never been able to bring myself to watch it again. I think it's the saddest movie I have ever seen.
She comes from a revered dynasty of acting behemoths. This woman is a jewel and one of the greatest actresses who ever lived. And her eyes, so haunting and full of grit.
I HATE Briony. I think what she did ease HER mind, but not all the lives she helped to destroy. There is no way she redeemed herself using her words in a book and then thinking that, because of this, she "gave them their happiness". No matter how many beautiful words she had to use, she did what she did and I don't think she ever really atoned for anything. She was not held accountable by anyone other then her own psyche. We can argue that "she had to live with it" and yet, she lived, she didn't do ANYTHING to improve anyone's lives she wrecked. She just let it eat her away but kept on living. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this movie, but you cannot honestly tell me that she atoned. What I love about this movie is how we can see the glimpse of a redemption in the confession scene, only to be betrayed by her again in this ending. Briony is a collection of betrayals wrapped in beautiful words that make us feel, momentarily, how she feels, which triggers our catharsis, but right after we see it's a lie, another one, because she simply was never, ever, able to face the truth. The truth that because her selfishness, jealousy and arrogance, she destroyed one life (Robbie's), and 2 others as collateral damage (Cecilia and Robbie's mom's).
"She didn't do anything to improve anyone's lives she wrecked" well how was she supposed to to that, they were already dead? That's the point, there is absolutely no way for her to atone for her lies since the victims of them are already gone, so she desperately turns to fiction to try to ease her guilt (probably to no avail) because what else can she do?
This is a very emotional scene. There are things in life you can never take back. Choose your life wisely.
FRANCO PEREZ there is always a choice
@FRANCO PEREZ There is always a choice. Whether one knows it or makes it is of no concern to the facts. Democrat/Laborite, are we?
oscar wilde I agree, I think. All I meant was that each life is an opportunity in and of itself for choice as is almost every moment in it. Towards the end of ones life that notion can become quite hard to bear.
This isn’t about making a choice. She genuinely thought it was Robbie until she went lola’s wedding.
@@Nazaba09 Nah. She was mad and jealous of here sister. She wasn't acquainted with the impact of certain behaviors at that point in her life.
The saddest plot twist of all time.
Wow. So brilliantly put man. Bravo. My favorite ending in film history for sure.
But it was realistic
Definitely, I watched it because I thought it was a war movie, I stuck it out and was balling my eyes out at the end.
It’s this plot twist that made me decide never to watch this movie again! My emotions couldn’t take it.
Exactly.
In my opinion Briony is still a coward. She waited until everyone died off before she completed her novel. So she won't feel the sting of the guilty looks from various family members. I can't say she went completely without consequences because her guilty conscience followed her for the rest of her life.
J.R. M you don’t get the meaning of the movie. She didn’t finish the novel until the end of her life because she wanted them to live in her imagination until her death. Bringing a closure to the novel was letting them go forever. The only way for her to keep them alive in her imagination was working on the novel for her entire life. Such a beautiful story.
@@manchesterr85 that’s still selfish? To live in HER imagination forever? To give her peace of mind? To give herself a false sense of tranquility that she could manipulate the story to make herself feel better? To not have to live with the repercussion of the novel release because she would be dead already? Idk mate she still seems pretty selfish to me, doesn’t mean i don’t think this is a masterpiece but this lady never cared to even try to come clean with her sister. Nothing. She put herself first
@@aprildew9099 debatable though dude because she's just trashed her whole persona and reputation. She could have just not said anything. Great discussion though.
@@manchesterr85 No matter how much people twist it, Briony deserves the deepest corner of hell when she dies. I don't understand how anyone can have sympathy for such a low bitch.
@@VuTran-mf7kj they have "pity" for her & ignore Robbie's mother who had to see her only son's despair . That rich lying brat doesn't deserve any pinch of sympathy! She manipulated the story & what many people don't understand is she isn't a reliable writer. She couldn't let the truth stand even in the end , she viewed Robbie & Cecelia as her characters whom she could control instead of real people. The "I wanted them to stay alive in my imagination" bs is for people to sympathise with her. Robbie's mother screamed "you lairs" when they were taking him away & she heard those screams but still stayed silent , can't imagine how she could sleep with that. If anything Briony still didn't change & didn't even show herself fully guilty of what she did. Seems to me she was content with life after she gave herself a happy ending by believing in her own imaginative lies.
She seemed really at peace with the fact that she was dying, she probably felt relief, after all she was carrying that heavy burden all her life.
No. She lived a whole peaceful life without ever thinking of revealing the truth. Then she waited until she was near death to give out the truth to try earning a ticket to Heaven. That's all.
@@VuTran-mf7kj No. The damage was done, the book was written as a way of forgiving herself, that is why it is called Atonement.
@@VuTran-mf7kj I think she felt like she destroyed her sisters life , so as robbie's life , this book was a way of giving her the life she deserved
@@VuTran-mf7kj She lived 'peaceful life', but her mind was never at peace. She still wore the same hairstyle throughout her life, which is like she's stuck and never moved on from her past.
It was a fake peaceful life.
@@VuTran-mf7kj In the book, she says that she couldn't publish it while Lola and Paul Marshall were alive, because they would sue. Also, Briony states that she's an atheist. Or, rather, in her opinion, a novelist is like God: a novelist creates the world, populates it and decides the fates over his/her people. One finds atonement with God, but because Briony is a novelist/atheist, she had to find atonement in herself.
This end is sublime. It always makes me so emotional.
I read the book first, I'll never forget it. We were in a little bookstore in Key Largo, and I asked the guy to recommend a book for me to read while we were out on the boat. He didn't hesitate, and handed me Atonement.
Cauzin Diem i read this book like my life depended on it. pissed me off lol
Those powerful 5 min should have been enough for the academy to give Vanessa Redgrave at least an Oscar Nomination for best supporting actress
the vote would be spilt with her and ronan tho
It actually splitted votes for both Redgrave and Romola Garai, lucky for us Saoirse Ronan achieved her first of many to come!
She literally steals the whole movie.
Yes Oscars could have made history nominating three actresses in the same category playing the same character in a movie
Xi DIAMOND Vanessa would be under supporting actress with saoirse. She’s in five minutes of the film.
@@xidiamond6851 Her speech in 1972 when she received the Oscar is the best speech in the Oscar history.
The real irony was, both Robbie and Cecilia died young, waiting on each other with longing and hope.Probably not knowing what happened to each other. Briony was the one left with all the regret and memories, she hurt herself the most..
She caused everything, she deserved the burden
A burden that was self inflicted and caused the paramount of life changing events for Robbie and Cecilia
She deserved it is a strong, but she had all the chances to end it not carry it
However we wouldn't have had a masterpiece without it
This movie destroyed me. I’ve only been able to watch it once because of this scene.
Same.
Every time this video shows up for me I find myself captivated by her monologue and I keep repeating the lines after Vanessa.
No matter how many times I've seen it and always breaks me. Vanessa Redgrave was unparalleled in this
Yes
She kept both Saoirse and Romola in mind as she performed, for unity
Their happiness was never Briony’s to give.
"I.. gave them.. their happiness." No, Briony, you completely ripped it away.
Clueless
One way to look at it is that she gave them their false happiness in order to feel better about herself. Since she's dying, it could offer a feeling of closure for her.
@@aume00sa No she deserves to feel guilty about it forever fuck her
Agreed
That last image of Cecelia under water is a sad parallel to that scene at the fountain in the beginning. The beginning and end of her love story was her under the water.
Very interesting, because Robbie got scared that Cecelia might drown in the fountain, or at least it seemed that way to me. He was worried for her, wanted to save her, felt relief when she came out of the water. He didn't want to do the same for Briony when she was in serious danger of drowning caused by herself, but he did it anyways, but was mad about it (understandably so). He didn't love her the way he loved Cecelia.
And then, when Cecelia actually drowned in the end, Robbie couldn't save her... The parallels hurt so much.
@@kiirosoleil you are fantastic! Never thought about these parallelisms
Also a parallel between her position hanging in the water and against the library shelves with Robbie
Water is what first ignited their love, when he saw her in the fountain, and water is what reunited their love, when a flood took her spirit away to rejoin his.
If this isn't the epitome of being so connected emotionally as an actor and delivering such a beautiful soliloquy, then I don't know what is. It's as Shakespearean as could ever be, with real depth, honesty, feeling, and emotion. One of the most moving scenes that ever was in cinematographic history. Watch and listen to the simple and heartfelt words, phrasing, and body language with nothing but herself to deliver this piece de resistance of acting magnificence. Show me anything that can equal this masterpiece performance. This scene alone should have won an Oscar. Unbelievably real. This is as good as an actor could ever become. Gifted beyond compare. Bravo!
Calm down, this was great, but not monumental.
I heard that keira knightley needed therapy after this movie
It’s crazy that she only had 5 minutes of screen time but the way she delivers these lines is as heartbreaking as it is elegant and endearing.
absolutely devastating. saw the film once, loved it. one of my all time faves but I can never see it again, the feels gets too much like damn. the ending just, wow. amazing.
I understand you, after I watched the movie the first time I never rewatched it for years. But then I did and now I rewatch it 1 or 2 times a year, ofc always crying, and I love it more and more every single time!
I think the great thing about this ending is Vanessa Redgrave's delivery... "I gave them their happiness..."
There's the sense that even as she says that line that you can tell she means it but she also questions and doubts herself. She wants to believe she's doing something good, but you can tell she knows still deep down inside of her somewhere that she's also maybe still lying to herself.
It perfectly strikes a balance between her trying to do right but hinting that she also knows she isn't.
I love that dichotomy it presents. It's someone so far gone and facing their final days that they have to believe in something positive, she's effectively trying to convince herself... even though I think it's implied that she truthfully knows that she can never take it back no matter how much she 'does right by them'.
The combined desperation of trying to make amends and her seeming to know that she can't is just so tragic.
Yes of course I think the story and the chain of events maybe makes it hard for us to feel really sorry for her but just the general theme and concept of what the story is about... that we all make choices in our lives that some times we can never take back... and the process by which we try to make peace but never are sometimes able to... that to me, regardless of the character which that story is told through, is just so moving.
Yes, she's a character that is complex and may not deserve to be seen as tragic, but the fact that some people in life make wrong choices that ruin the lives of others and they have to live with the loss of the loved ones knowing those lives were taken in part due to their terrible mistakes, that is tragic...
Her hair never changed. As a child, a young woman, and now an old lady. So, did she ever change? Or is she just the same old child? Even her clothing is reminiscent. And the release of the book is on her birthday, it's her gift to herself, the gift of atonement through her sister's and Robbie's happiness in her novel.
But really it's all fiction, it seems she's trying to convince herself more than anyone. That she "gave" Cecilia and Robbie anything other than misery which they lived with til the day they died. She was a child, and children do things that go beyond the word childish. Yet, it wasn't til she was dying that she decided to give a public face to her greatest shame. Her mother, her father, their family, (Though I think her brother's alive in the books and he has his own family}, Robbie's mother, the people who mattered won't know. Some say better late than never, but when show up with only a minute left . . .
Beautifully written. I wouldn't read too much into the hair though. Having similar hair and clothes is just a very typical trick to make different people of different age look recognizable as one specific character.
@@sunnysolaris23 Yes, but little things like that can be symbolic in movies which is why I think they were questioning that consistent style choice throughout all the stages of her life.
@@linas2969I agree I see her hair actually as her “character” or maybe visage. It worked on the kid briony but it looked goofy on her older versions lmao. Though across the three actresses the hair helps tell the story 🤔
I cannot explain the amount of fury the line "I gave them happiness" brings me. You didn't give them shit.
I have to agree with you on that one AK-oi7ch. She may have been wracked with guilt her entire life as she should have and may even have been genuinely sorry for her foolish, selfish actions that destroyed two innocent lives but their happiness was not hers or anyone else's to give. The reason they were happy to begin with is because they were both pure-hearted souls who fell in love. Happiness was something they created for each other and not something that could be given to them in a book of fiction.
Agree 'I gave them' incredibly problematic, but at the same time if we didn't have that version of happiness that Briony created, we wouldn't also truly understand what was stolen from them. She made real what they were deprived of so that it could be fully seen and the weight of that loss felt. If the book had just been the true events it wouldn't have the emotional impact. She condemns herself by creating a version where Cecilia and Robbie get their happiness, and I do think if there are so many brutal, unresolvable tragedies such as occur in a war, it does seem kind to offer peace where you can - and the only place she could do that was in fiction, because the reality was too far gone to repair. It's a gift to them and an exposure for her.
How a lie destroyed 2 lives, but she never atones only in her mind does briony constructs this , a happy ending in the memory of Robbie and Cecelia. She wanted a happy ending but lost cause, it never changes the fact that by her word she imprisons Robbie with a childhood err and drives the wedge between both sisters .... Robbie and Cecilia are doomed though they passionately love each other.This was not atonement, but her wish as a writer to let them live conceals her lies . Honestly she killed the two people who meant everything to her...imho
I so agree. The story is called Atonement but she never amended anything. Writing a happy ending for them doesnt change how miserable you made them when they were alive.
True, but her childhood lie did not just destroy Robbie and Cecilia's lives, but also her own. Briony was a child on the brink of puberty, but only on the brink. Not quite understanding sexuality, never having noticed before that her sister and Robbie, who she adores in a very childlike fashion, are in love. The very day that she starts to notice things - by accidently reading Robbie's letter (the 'wrong' letter he never meant to send to Cecilia in the first place because it's the frustrated outpouring of his frustrated desire for her), by seeing flashes of things (Cecilia wet next to the pond, sharing strange looks with Robbie, the kissing scene in the library, etc.) - the very day she start to notice things, is the very fateful day her older and far more knowledgeable about sex cousin is raped. The things her cousing tell her, the raunchy bits from Robbie's letter, the strange tension between Robbie and Cecilia and Briony's fertile writer's brain all combine to make Briony utterly believe that Robbie wants to hurt Cecilia. HAS hurt her, in fact. We know, because we are adults AND we are shown the things Briony does not see, that the tension between Robbie and Cecilia is merely that of two young people very much in love, but from young Briony's perspective, things look very different. So her lie, whilst still a lie in the strict sense is not really a lie in the broader sense. She utterly believes that Robbie is a 'sex maniac' who wants to hurt her sister.
And so Robbie is whisked away, Cecilia is furious and leaves home and Briony is protectively hidden away at home and only starts to realise that she was wrong, that what she saw was not the interaction of a predator and his prey but of two people who desire eachother, when she is years older. By that time, war has broken out, Robbie is in Dunkirk and Briony starts nursing wounded soldiers. She hasn't seen Cecilia ever since that fateful day, but wants to talk to her. To atone... only for it to be too late because Robbie and Cecilia die at the very start of that war..when Briony isn't very much more than a teenager.
So while Robbie and Ceciiia are the victims, I can't help but feel sorry for Briony as well. Her childish misconstrueing of events and her one lie destroyed not two lives but three; Robbie's, Cecilia's and her own.
And yet, Briony is an unreliable narrator... because people don't get convicted of rape on a single lie by an eleven year old, made at a single occasion. If there had been a proper investigation, and she had been questioned by police, or by a lawyer at the trial, she would not have been able to keep repeating that lie. Turns that her rich and important family took measures that she would not be questioned by police, which is why Cecilia fell out with her family. Robbie had been the family's pet project, after all. The son of a servant with brains and a talent for learning, so the family paid for his education. But pet project or no, he was not supposed to marry the daughter of the house, and when he is accused of rape, it's a handy excuse for them to 'get rid' of him.
But in Briony's mind, it was HER fault, and her fault alone, which ruined Robbie and Cecilia's lives, and she lives her entire life under that huge block of guilt and remore, wanting to atone, and never being able to. It's a brilliant film, with the same sense of unescapable doom as a Greek tragedy.
@@Smallpotato1965 brilliant text, thank you, fully agree.
The lie destroyed far more than 2 lives. Robbie and Cecilia obviously, but also their families were torn apart, Lola never got justice and even wound up MARRYING her rapist, and even Briony destroyed her own life forever by living in constant guilt, a successful writer maybe but she was completely alone and hated herself
@@oliviapete Small note about Lola, Briony may have lied but that was because Lola gave her the insinuation that Robbie did it (several other factors included). While Lola is a victim she was also complicit in lying for Paul. Paul was going to marry her even if the rape wasn’t brought up. He’d marry her even if Briony accused someone else. Despite all that, it was completely normal for women to marry their abusers around that time, considering the alarmingly high rate in which women were abused around those times, it’s not a stretch to say they’d been assaulted before then. Bottom line, Briony is not at fault for Lolas conclusion, that ball was rolling as soon as Paul set his eyes on her.
This is one of the most bittersweet moment's I've ever seen.
how is it sweet? T.T
This movie shows us that the last person to forgive us for our sins is ourself. No one hates what someone’s done more then the person who inflicted that pain.
If they regret it, of course. I can't say the same to Paul.
Hello just some german students who have to comment on your comment in an english lesson. This comment is literally in a schoolbook in Germany 😂
Just another German student who have to comment on your comment in English lesson
You have made it!
Vanessa Redgrave acting...no words.
Schindler's list ending and this one... makes me teared up every time! That drowning shot is hauntingly beautiful!!
Those movies and the book thief’s ending😭😭🥹
"i could have gotten one more...."
@@byronbranch4645 This ring, one more life 😢
@@ultravioletron 😭😭😭 the look on his face and when his Assistent tells him he did so much for so many ....😭😭😭
There is a special place in my fictional characters Hell for Briony.
This movie (and especially the brilliance of James McAvoy) makes my heart brake over and over. I can truly handle watch clips of it only after years at a time. This is Art well done.
When I first watched this I was shocked by the cut to the present day. It’s so jarring in the best way. And what a plot twist! Gotta be one of the most devastating twists of all time. It makes you question literally every scene involving Briony because it exposes her as an unreliable narrator, despite her good intentions at the end of her life. This film is a knockout.
I think this ending speech is about responsibility that only a writer can feel: you can create a peace of reality if you're good enough and people buy and read your books. She 'd lost her chanse to fix things in reality so she had to choose: lay down and die of guilt or became the person who could recreate some small peace of reality and make people believe in it, so a little echos of her sister and her lover became real and happy for a nanosecond somewhere in infinity. Yes she will never do right, she simply cannot do it, but she did something without knowing if it makes any sense. You have to be very strong or very desperate to do something like this. I recognize McEwan in it. I think it's gorgeous. When you feel there's nothing you can do you still can do something.
?.... f
I don't cry in movies... apparently no one told my eyes that during Atonement
vanessa redgrave is such a GOAT. an unbroken 5 min monologue that ties the entire movie together. i watched this when i was a kid with some friends and we were horsing around, laughing at the sex scenes, not paying attn, making fun of the movie for being disjointed and confusing and slow. then this scene happened and we were just sitting there in riveted silence as it all snapped together. stunning movie.
It just hits you especially how her sister and Robbie died 😭
Vanessa has such beautiful blue eyes. Looking into them enhances how much heart and soul she put into this scene. 💙
Vanessa Redgrave's performance here is just perfection. You can feel the hardened pain with a hint of relief in her voice.
I love Vanessa Redgrave so much, such a wonderful actress I remember seeing her in a play in London and she was absolutely amazing. One of the saddest movie plot twists always makes me cry.
Such a painful, poignant ending. I pitied Briony too; she had to live with knowing the misery of two people was the direct consequence of her actions, when she was just a little girl with a crush.
4 people😢
I loved this movie, even though it broke me in half. It ravished my heart.
"i've gave them they're happiness" - эстетика этой сцены, этих слов... квинтэссенция чувств и эмоций человека.
I don't hate Briony. Although she did something so terrible, it is obvious that she would give her own life to repair her mistake. She knows that she can't atone for what she did, but she tries, in fiction, to give her sister and Robbie the happiness they deserved.
I know same. Obviously she was a foolish, naive, and maybe even selfish when she was a kid but she was just a child and even though it really sucks all the pain she had caused you have to realize that as she got older and matured she understood and felt very guilty for her own fault and amended it in the end. She did the best she could in the end.
She felt guilty because, in the end, Robbie and her sister died during the war and never had the happiness she felt they deserved. Yet, lost in all the emotion is the foolishness and innocence of her guilt. Did she bomb London herself? Did she cause disease to spread among the Allied troops? Yet, she carries guilt as if she could have stopped these forces that killed millions. I think her response is very human and shows what a great person she is inside. But, it's completely foolish. The war killed millions upon millions, two of which were Robbie and her sister. It simply wasn't her fault at all. And it wasn't because of what she did when she was 13......She imagines Robbie to be very angry when he sees her. I imagine Robbie to be very happy, he begs for her forgiveness because he knows he should have said something that night in the library......he should have said something to help the child understand, he just didn't know what to say.
@@davidking4838 remember the novel is written in Briony's point of view & she isn't a reliable writer! If anything , Robbie , Cecelia & Robbie's mother deserved sympathy not that rich lying brat of a girl. She lied abt it even tho she knew he didn't do it . She could hear his mother's screams when she yelled "you liars" as they were taking him away but she still stayed silent. She had 3 yrs time to talk to her own family abt it , her sister & bring him out. She waited till she was 18?
Robbie was her crush so it's obvious that she had retaliation against him after she saw him & Cecelia all over each other at the library , she couldn't stand seeing them together. When she got older she waited till it was too late cuz then they won't ever be happily together. Briony as a young lady , was alone & no man could replace Robbie for her. She was probably hoping that Robbie would forgive her & love her instead of her sister. She said she was a coward to face her sister even tho she knew her address. And even at 77 , she didn't show herself fully guilty. She manipulated their truth , their story to escape from her conscience. All the happy ending crap was not for them , it was for herself .
She’s a coward, she always was and still is. I don’t hate her either. That ending in her book wasn’t for them it was 100 percent for her. She allowed a rapist to run free, only revealed the truth of Robbie only decades after his death, and still didn’t choose to tell the truth in her book, rather create a more marketable story both for the readers and herself. Basically as an act to forgive herself. I don’t hate her tho, because I know she’s suffered every day of her life knowing what a terrible thing she’d done.
People can make terrible mistakes when they are young with no life experience or judgement. Briony's mistake had terrible consequences. Most people are more fortunate and their mistakes don't destroy other people.
Not only did Birony learn her lesson but she transmuted her pain and guilt into something greater. Art. That’s what the film is about, the redemptive power of art.
Very interesting take on it. Most would see it the opposite. That even in the end, she was foolish and naive to what she's done and that her gesture to "give them their happiness" to be utterly misguided.
Art has very little to do with this story
@@jordanlevitt1638 then you do not understand the point of the film
Exactly... what else could she do to amend it. We all wronged others.
Art is nothing compared to the life it's derived from. Art is nothing compared to feelings.
This is the saddest ending ever. Cecilia and Robbie didn’t get to live their life that everyone deserves. I even sympathise with Briony which makes it even more sad
Briony was a stupid and spoiled child. She was in love with Robbie and because of her jealousy and her overactive imagination she blamed Robbie. Of course, she can't take the whole blame because Lola and the perv orchestrated all that as a cover up and she fell in their trap. Later, when she grows up and realizes her crime, she punishes herself for atonement. She rejects Harvard and becomes a nurse like Cecilia because she doesn't deserve been happier that Cecilia. She can't feel happiness or satisfaction or redemption and the guilt haunts her all her life because Cecilia and Robbie died and they never had a second chance after the war. They missed their first chance for happiness before the war because of Robbie's imprisonment. Even if Robbie wasn't imprisoned both of them might have died during the war, but they would have lived few years of happiness. In the end of her life, Briony feels that in real life she can never be atoned for her mistake, so she gives them their happiness in the novel. Robbie and Cecilia will live happily forever through her novel, though she will be long gone. She doesn't seem to fell redeemed and she is obviously still feeling guilty but this is, as she said, a final act of kindness before her death. After all, she is a renowned writer. That's the only thing she can do.
You're the first person I've seen suspect that Lola and Paul were having consensual sex
@@xidiamond6851 well, Lola was underage so technically she can't consent to a sexual act, but she falsely blamed Robbie and helped Paul and eventually they got married and let an innocent person rot in prison. That's why they felt shame when they saw Briony at their wedding.
@@flightofthestars that's how they get away with it. The doting and attention (which makes the child feel special), is used against them by making them 'complicit'
I wouldn't have blamed Lola. I thought she didn't know it was Paul she didn't properly see him.
@@tristantries9211 She knew. He'd assaulted her earlier in the day. Remember the dinner scene?
This is a classical example of the Cause and Effect Law, which is a Physics one. She destroyed the life of two human beings only by whim. She was in love with Robbie and she was mad and jealous when she found out he and her sister Cecília were in love, so she wanted to separate them and she did. Since the Law of Cause and Effect is infallible, she ended up very sick, alone and feeling awfully guilty for what she did to both of them.
If this happened today Robbie would've been put on the horrible/heinous/unjust sex offender registry & forced to register as a sex offender for whatever amount of time
She's wearing the same necklace from the ill-fated night of the dinner party.
Did anyone notice how she always had the same haircut since she was little girl like she's still stuck in that time
Too beautiful and sad movie at the same time,you cannot forget this movie once you had the privilege to watch it
It's heartbreaking to know when you have destroyed someone's life, even when it's done unintentionally.
You cannot ask for forgiveness when those whose life were destroyed already gone.
It's a burden you have to carry your entire life.
This movie resonates with me so much.. I don't think I can forgive myself, at least not in the near future..
Chanel Miller is a real life example of someone who's great lie not only destroyed an actual innocent person's life and reputation beyond repair but also robbed their future. Brock Turner was factually falsely accused & wrongfully convicted.
@@goldenvulture6818 How was he falsely accused when two people quite literally caught that little creep in the act?
@@goldenvulture6818 "non-opinionated" haha that's funny.
Brock Turner assaulted someone without consent and got caught in the act. The only reason his life was destroyed waws because of his own personal choices.
@@piratesswoop725 You wanna continue believing & perpetuating those unforgivable/heinous lies about what happened then be my guest
@@goldenvulture6818 Brock? That you, buddy? How were the prison showers? Better than getting reamed on a gravel driveway, or.. ?
Ultimately I think the saddest part of it all was wanting to beg for forgiveness and have no one to try to obtain it from. That, however, was still on her. Living with that burden all your life must have been haunting. I don't think I could've done it.
I have never cried so much for a movie
This was an excellent movie adaptation of a fine novel. They got it right for a change, especially the casting, and particularly Vanessa Redgrave’s final scene.
I’m not sure if I could ever handle watching this movie again but I revisit some scenes every now and again… 😭
same here
Same here. It literally destroyed me.
I love movies like this despite how terribly tragic they are because there are so many different perspectives, I love seeing others comment their different opinions on Briony’s character
Movies can change your life, well, art in general can change your life. Possibly, that is the reason why art has been in the humankind history since it started to be created by the first genius.
I needed to read this book for an exam, and after seeing the length and knowing I’m not a fan of reading, I decided to look at the film as a sort of summary before the exam. “I’ll just quickly get it over with I thought to myself, can’t be bothered, but let’s quickly see what it has to offer.”
And holy hell, what a damn movie!!!!
Maybe I should have read the book😂
I think you got the greatest homework🤯
You *do* know you still can, right....??
For me it’s a very rare example when movie and book are so good equally
All this lady had to do was tell the truth when she was a child. Morale of the story
A type movie that is never made in a history of cinema.
A movie that is so rare and not a single scene of the movie is copied.
A movie that is very - very close to the 90% of human reality and truth about life and dosen't get that much credit and appreciation, dosen't get that much award and viewership and should won the oscar and much more recognition.
Feel bad for the movie - "ATONEMENT".
Pls watch🙏 whoever's reading this. You ll not dissatisfied.
Such a movie. This final scene gutted me as a teen when I first watched it. The hollow feeling followed by tears was such an experience. A very sad one.
"So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for and deserved." And guess whose fault that is? "Ever since I've always felt I prevented." Bingo.
Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner of later that debt is paid. (Apt quote from Chernobyl)
I think Cecelia’s death has to be one of the most frightening things I could imagine when I saw this years ago as a young teenager. I had a nightmare about drowning after I saw the movie.
What I find interesting is that she supposedly is facing atonement for her lies. Yet, she lies again to her readers. They never had a happy ending because she lied and yet again she hasn’t learned anything cause she lies to everyone about the truth of this book she wrote.
We hold onto honesty and reality like childhood cuddly toys and yet most of the time we find most comfort in fiction. Not in the untruth of it but in its possibility to change the wrongs we have done. Only in fiction can we ever truly atone for our mistakes.
this destroys me every single time
This scene killed me. When he died I wept like a baby, but when she died I just couldn't breath! Very sad!
lol
She is a monster.. she outlived everyone just so she could tell the truth about her devilish “mistakes” before a minute she dies. Not even a single family member did hear about it because she was too scared. No, you didn’t give them their happiness.
Vanessa Redgrave lost her daughter, Natasha from a ski accident concussion. In a way, this is cathartic for her. Imagine the regret of not insisting Natasha see a doctor immediately, and later having her pass away, so preventable.
Vanessa, I feel your pain. This was such a moving scene but so understated. You just feel those blue eyes boring into you, searching for salvation.
her daughter died 3 years after Atonment was filmed - shes just a very GOOD actor.
Yeah and Liam Neeson is her son in law since he was with Natasha and the father of her sons & Vanessa's grandsons
love the soundtrack! the high notes just break my heart even more
Right in the feels!!!
Truly a movie you can only see once, my heartaches even just thinking of this movie.
Brilliant cast. Brilliant script. Brilliant acting. I was never able to watch this movie again because it ripped me to shreds
The film is an absolute masterpiece
so pure heart touching
Before seeing this movie many people told me that I was going to hate Briony.
The truth was I doubted it because I thought "It is almost impossible for me to hate Saoirse Ronan, she is my favorite actress”.
After watching this movie I realized what an incredible actress she is and also how well the other women who played Briony acted.
What a son of a $&@/ is Briony 🤬🤬
I admit that, for many years I couldn't accept Saoirse Ronan and I didn't like her, only because Briony lol she's absolutely an amazing actress
Briony : lied and caused the separation
Also Briony : "I gave them the happiness"
Moral of the story: mind your own damn business.
Human beings make mistakes, which can lead to deadly consequences. This movie shows how someone who cannot turn back time can somewhat atone for what they have done.
Atonement is not about everyone forgiving you for what you’ve done, it’s about learning to forgive yourself.
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@phynchen8139Only you get to decide if you forgive yourself, no one else has a say in that
I'll never forget seeing this in the cinema at the time it was devestating
Props to Briony for keeping the same hairstyle throughout her whole life. My indecisive ass could never.
You travel through life, its lefts, its rights, and this scene is like reaching the horizon, what you understand meeting a sage would be like. There's no further to go. Consciense is the only meaning to life.
You could hear everyone crying in the theater. No one was expecting it.
Briony Tallis is the fictional version of real life actual false accuser Chanel Miller
Such beautiful and moving music that accompanies this final scene
I like the emphasis on "I gave THEM their happiness" implying she might have had little herself
She definitely never got past everything… her appearance alone shows that ( same hair style and what not)
The guy playing the harmonica was a perfect touch
I watched this movie once. I utterly loved it in every way you can live a movie: from its technical beauty, to the screenplay, the acting and the story. But it let me so scarred that I cannot watch it again. It’s too painful.
the regret in her eyes always brings me to tears
the ending is just so 😭😭😭
I always tear up during this scene
I hateeeee heeerrrrr....!!! Robbie didn't deserve that life!! 😭😭😭
Gosh she sounds and looks so much like her daughter Natasha here, who sadly died
This scene is even more devastating with the knowledge that Vanessa Redgrave has lived 14+ years after her scene partner here, Anthony Minghella who was 17 years her junior.
Yep he died in 2008
I know what it's like to live with regret, guilt. Not to this extent and I pray I never do but there are times I regret my choices and think 'what if'. Or wish that it was decades ago and I could make different choices so that my life would be different. I guess I'm running from my own past choices as well because I tend to write fiction and dwell on history. At times, I'd think that I'd prefer to be in the worlds I create or have another life in the far past rather than this one. And then I remember that in the past, things would've been harder than today. Or when I stop writing, I feel like I'm waking up from a dream and realize that I'm actually flesh and blood, not one of the characters. And I pray again that I can better myself and help others so that I don't have more regrets at the end of my life, whenever that may be.
This scene makes me ugly cry every time
Oh Briony! what a mess. This late confession, is it to protect your reputation as a writer? You outlived both Robbie and Celia then decided to give them a fantasy ending. I cannot forgive you, but that says something about me 😨
But she's not protecting her reputation... what's sad is that she really thinks she witnessed something and in a way she had. Lola was underage, so even if Paul had her consent it was still rape... they just manipulated her into believing the assailant was Robbie.
It's hard say whether this was an easy or difficult task, as Robbie was Briony's crush she may have refused to believe such ill of him but wanted to punish him for not being hers.
My friend who is a psychologist told me this character is a pure narcissist and was not sorry at all!
This scene gives me goosebumps!!
I saw the movie about 15 years ago and although I think it's an absolute masterpiece, so far I have never been able to bring myself to watch it again. I think it's the saddest movie I have ever seen.
So true
Fabulous book, fabulous movie
Vanessa Redgrave is one of the greatest actors ever!
She comes from a revered dynasty of acting behemoths. This woman is a jewel and one of the greatest actresses who ever lived. And her eyes, so haunting and full of grit.
This scene shocked me. I didnt see it coming
the amazing music makes the scene even more emotional
"I don't forgive ger, may she burn in hell."
James McAvoy
I HATE Briony. I think what she did ease HER mind, but not all the lives she helped to destroy. There is no way she redeemed herself using her words in a book and then thinking that, because of this, she "gave them their happiness". No matter how many beautiful words she had to use, she did what she did and I don't think she ever really atoned for anything. She was not held accountable by anyone other then her own psyche. We can argue that "she had to live with it" and yet, she lived, she didn't do ANYTHING to improve anyone's lives she wrecked. She just let it eat her away but kept on living. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this movie, but you cannot honestly tell me that she atoned.
What I love about this movie is how we can see the glimpse of a redemption in the confession scene, only to be betrayed by her again in this ending. Briony is a collection of betrayals wrapped in beautiful words that make us feel, momentarily, how she feels, which triggers our catharsis, but right after we see it's a lie, another one, because she simply was never, ever, able to face the truth. The truth that because her selfishness, jealousy and arrogance, she destroyed one life (Robbie's), and 2 others as collateral damage (Cecilia and Robbie's mom's).
"She didn't do anything to improve anyone's lives she wrecked" well how was she supposed to to that, they were already dead? That's the point, there is absolutely no way for her to atone for her lies since the victims of them are already gone, so she desperately turns to fiction to try to ease her guilt (probably to no avail) because what else can she do?
i will never not ugly cry at this movie, once the ending hits. its...argh i cant even find the right words...
Even in a book she didn’t deserve to give what she had taken from those two
Vanessa Redgrave merecia ter sido indicada ao Oscar