AtonementMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 85 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    Nothing comes easily in Atonement, especially its ending, which, both happy and tragic, is as wrenching as it is genuinely satisfying. How fitting, somehow, that a novel so devoted to the precision and passionate love of language be captured in a film that is simply too exquisite for words. Read full review

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    An unforgettable examination of a host of dark impulses. Read full review

  • 100
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Nothing in Joe Wright's screen version of Ian McEwan's dense, internalized 2001 novel of secrets and lies should really work, but damn near everything does. It's some kind of miracle. Written, directed and acted to perfection, Atonement sweeps you up on waves of humor, heartbreak and ravishing romance. Read full review

  • 100
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    This is one of the few adaptations that gives a splendid novel the film it deserves. Read full review

  • 100
    Variety | Derek Elley

    Rarely has a book sprung so vividly to life, but also worked so enthrallingly in pure movie terms, as with Atonement, Brit helmer Joe Wright's smart, dazzlingly upholstered adaptation of Ian McEwan's celebrated 2001 novel. Read full review

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    This is one of the year's best films, a certain best picture nominee. Read full review

  • 90
    The Hollywood Reporter | Ray Bennett

    With compelling and charismatic performances by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy as the lovers, and a stunning contribution from Romola Garai as their remorseful nemesis, the film goes directly to "The English Patient" territory and might also expect rapturous audiences and major awards. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    In the end -- an ending of such power and narrative originality (in both book and movie) that those who know it ought never breathe a word to those who don't. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The movie version feels like a stately, but watered down, episode of "Masterpiece Theatre" fused with "The English Patient." Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Atonement fails to be anything more than a decorous, heavily decorated and ultimately superficial reading of the book on which it is based. Read full review

View more reviews for Atonement on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Stellar literary adaptation too mature for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling novel set in pre-WW II England deals with themes -- including adolescent immaturity, class differences, lying, and passion -- that are too complex for all but the most mature teens to really be able to grasp and put in context. There are a couple of sexual situations, and the extended scene of the evacuation from Dunkirk is bloody and disturbing. A particular "bad" word ("c--t"), used out of desire instead of anger, is shown in typeface several times throughout the film. Other language includes "s--t" and "f--k"; there's also social drinking and period-accurate smoking.
  • Families can talk about the impact of Briony's lie. What misconceptions led her to think she saw Robbie committing a crime? What does the story convey about the power of words and the flexibility of truth? Older teens who are precocious readers may want to read the novel and discuss whether the film is an accurate, adequate adaptation.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: A young adolescent's distortion of the truth leads to devastating, irreversible results. A grown woman tries to "atone" for her past wrongdoing.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: The war-related scenes in France and at Dunkirk are disturbing: soldiers shooting their horses, a field full of dead schoolgirls, amputees, bloody soldiers, etc. There's a graphic scene of a patient's head injury at a London hospital, as well as many bloody men. Another scene shows dying and dead men, as well as a group of Londoners about to perish.
  • sex false3 Sex: Cecilia and Robbie share a few passionate kisses and an intimate lovemaking scene, but there's no nudity -- just quick shots of sleeves slipping off of shoulders and tuxedo pants opening, etc.
  • language false3 Language: "C--t" (aka "the most horrible word you've ever heard") is shown typewritten, several times. Other words include "bastard," "f--k," "s--t," and more.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Like any upper-crust English family, the Tallises drink cocktails, wine, and champagne at a dinner party. During the Dunkirk scene, soldiers are shown drinking in a makeshift pub, while one character tries in vain to get a drink. Men and women smoke cigarettes, as was the style in the '30s and '40s.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dave White

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