‘’Liar, liar…’’: The analysis of lies in the movie "Atonement"
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The film Atonement is based on Ian McEwan’s namesake novel. It is widely considered as one of his best novels. Atonement beautifully depicts the strength of the ‘’butterfly effect’’ by almost immediately introducing the story’s focal point which depicts 13-year-old Briony Tallis witnessing a series of events involving Robbie (son of Tallis’ housekeeper). Her poor interpretation of those innocuous events had detrimental consequences. These consequences are worthy of further analysis. However, let us first familiarize with the plotline of the film.
As it was previously
mentioned, the story opens with young Briony Tallis in 1935. Briony is a
13-year-old girl from a wealthy English family. She is known to be an aspiring
author, growing her talent at quite an early age, thus it is not complicated to
comprehend her vivid imagination which will become her curse. On the hottest
day of the year Briony sees her sister Cecilia in the garden with Robbie. She
misses the moment when Cecilia walks into the garden with their precious vase
with flowers, drops it because of Robbie’s chivalrous attempt to fill the vase
with water from the fountain pool, and only sees Cecilia in her drenched
garments emerging from the water while Robbie is facing her as she steps out
from the fountain pool. Later that same day remorseful Robbie is writing an
apology note to Cecilia.
He writes several notes expressing regret and asking for forgiveness, except
for one in which he finds himself in a puerile mood and writes a sexually
explicit note.
Not having any intent to send it to her, he folds it and sets it a side. Soon
after, he takes what he thinks is the proper apology note with him and leaves
his home. It is not until he sends his note to Cecilia through Briony that he
realizes its actual content. Alas, at that point it is too late. Briony runs to
her house, reads the note, jumps to conclusions, retells the note’s contents to
her cousin Lola and gives the note to Cecilia. Cecilia is utterly flummoxed as
she reads the note. Robbie arrives to their dinner party that night attempting
to mitigate the situation by explaining his mistake. Cecilia is reluctant but
she ultimately forgives him as they begin conversing in the family library. In
that moment they both realize their suppressed feelings for each other and
engage in love making. Briony catches them in the act but seizes to utter a
word. She walks out and so do Cecilia and Robbie. During the dinner twin boys,
Briony and Cecilia’s maternal cousins and Lola’s brothers, run away. The search
for them is executed immediately. Lola is being sexually assaulted by a mystery
man in the process of the search. None sees them but Briony. Although she only
spots the man from the back. But that does not prevent her from claiming she
has seen Robbie assaulting Lola. Connecting that instance with the scene in the
garden, Robbie’s note and the scene in the library, she is convinced Robbie is
a ‘’sex maniac’’. As the sole eye
witness, Briony testifies against Robbie when asked about the event by the police
investigators. Robbie is found to be guilty and is sent to prison. After being
imprisoned for four years, he is released on condition to fight in the Battle
of France. Cecilia and Robbie are heartbroken by separation, but they keep in
touch by exchanging letters for a period of time. Briony tries to make amends
with both of them by agreeing to have the legal record rectified five years
later but her attempts prove fruitless as Robbie dies of septicemia at Dunkirk
on the morning of the day he was to be evacuated, and Cecilia is drowned months
later in the Balham tube station bombing. Years later, Briony (now a successful
novelist), decides to pay a tribute to Cecilia and Robbie by uniting them in
the fictional setting of her book Atonement. She, however, is not given
forgiveness even in the written form and she presumably dies with guilt-ridden
conscious.
The reason for Briony's truth manipulation remains undiscovered. It is debatable whether her intentions were pure or if the more malicious motive was involved. On one hand, her incredibly young age stands as an indisputable fact, and so does her literary oriented mind which greatly tempered with her judgement. On the other hand, one could argue that she was in fact old enough to distinguish between right and wrong, turning the injustice she has committed all the more devious. For we cannot state with complete certainty neither that she was an innocent child who made a foolish mistake, nor that she is a vile and rotten girl who purposively intended to harm lives of two people in love, this whole storyline very much resembles a one large guessing game. Nevertheless, that seizes to prevent us from rationalizing her motives in whichever way we find the most agreeable. Since I can only vouch for my own personal opinions I will carefully lay out my interpretation of Briony’s decisions.
Immediately after watching
the first half of the film Atonement I received a positive impression of the character
Briony. I found her as a slightly atypical 13-year-old lady with a mind full of
fancies. Additionally, she was a writer who imagined a great deal of her day to
day life. It is practically impossible
to put her on the same pedestal as every other person in her position.
Although, I do not condone the habit of telling falsehoods I could not help but
wonder who did she model this behavior after? As most of us know, pubescent
individuals are incredibly impressionable. They project anything that is
presented to them by their peers, siblings and even parents sometimes. Also, it
seems fairly obvious that, although she had a very wealthy upbringing, she was
lacking the closeness and empathy of a kindred spirit. It is very likely that
she felt like an outcast in her own home and perhaps also in her school. This
could have possibly given her a push towards a semi-accidental wrongdoing. On
another note, she could have simply been sleep deprived and therefore in no
position to make sensible decisions since it was very late that night. I was,
personally, convinced of the purity of her intentions at the very end of the
picture when she said:’’ 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...
always felt I prevented…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.’’
Furthermore, in the novel "Atonement" the character Briony goes on to
say that despite the fact she gave them the ending they deserved she could
never be so bold to let them forgive her.
In these very moments I felt certain that she was one of those people
who sometimes stray away from the path of justice but always recompense for
their shortcomings in one way or the other. In my mind she is neither good nor
evil. She is merely a culpable human being who made a mistake out of sheer
hastiness and youthful immaturity. That is something all of us can very well
relate to.
In conclusion, it all boils down to your
moral standpoint, personal experiences with truth manipulation, as well as your
ability to forgive. Whatever the case, we can all agree that the plotline of
this film represents an incredible cautionary tale against the faculty of
lying, especially about the ‘’life-and-death’’ instances.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonement_(film)
Novel "Atonement"
by Ian McEwan
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