Atonement Film Essay
Atonement : Film Study
Question: Symbolism, narrative structure, and special effects are significant features of film. Focussing on one or more of these features, discuss the extent to which you agree with this view. Your response should include close reference to one or more films you have studied.
When director Joe Wright began the task of recreating the Atonement, written by Ian McEwan one of the first decisions that Wright had to make was to follow as close as possible the complex and time shifting narrative structure of the novel. Like the novel, the film Atonement has four distinctive parts, each given its own colour palette and filmed with its own camera techniques. Part one is set on one glorious summer’s day in 1935. Parts two and three are set in overlapping times in 1940 during the war, first in France and then in London. Part four is the coda and is set in 1999 in a London television studio. However, within each of these parts is a much more complex treatment of time; a narrative structure that underlines the film’s important themes of differing perspectives on events, and the damaging and redeeming effects of story-telling.
The first part of the film is deals the events that happened on a summer day in 1935. This day was partially hot and steamy, much like the sexual confrontations between Robbie and Cecilia. This part of the play sets up the entire story of events to follow in the years to come. The novel is told by a young thirteen year old girl named Briony. Briony is a girl with a “buzzing” imagination ass shown through the buzzing of the bees at certain parts of the film to show that her imagination is at a height and possible in its most destructive state for example when Robbie gives the anatomical letter to Briony to give to Cecilia or even when Briony is observing Robbie and Cecilia at the fountain. Briony plays the “eyes” of the film and the creator of the story. A way in which this is illustrated in the film is in the opening scene when
Question: Symbolism, narrative structure, and special effects are significant features of film. Focussing on one or more of these features, discuss the extent to which you agree with this view. Your response should include close reference to one or more films you have studied.
When director Joe Wright began the task of recreating the Atonement, written by Ian McEwan one of the first decisions that Wright had to make was to follow as close as possible the complex and time shifting narrative structure of the novel. Like the novel, the film Atonement has four distinctive parts, each given its own colour palette and filmed with its own camera techniques. Part one is set on one glorious summer’s day in 1935. Parts two and three are set in overlapping times in 1940 during the war, first in France and then in London. Part four is the coda and is set in 1999 in a London television studio. However, within each of these parts is a much more complex treatment of time; a narrative structure that underlines the film’s important themes of differing perspectives on events, and the damaging and redeeming effects of story-telling.
The first part of the film is deals the events that happened on a summer day in 1935. This day was partially hot and steamy, much like the sexual confrontations between Robbie and Cecilia. This part of the play sets up the entire story of events to follow in the years to come. The novel is told by a young thirteen year old girl named Briony. Briony is a girl with a “buzzing” imagination ass shown through the buzzing of the bees at certain parts of the film to show that her imagination is at a height and possible in its most destructive state for example when Robbie gives the anatomical letter to Briony to give to Cecilia or even when Briony is observing Robbie and Cecilia at the fountain. Briony plays the “eyes” of the film and the creator of the story. A way in which this is illustrated in the film is in the opening scene when