I saw Atonement today.
And cried.
It was the most depressing, tragic film I have ever seen, and I sat there for two hours on the verge of tears until the final scenes, when my eyeballs could no longer cope with all the tragedy and I finally caved.
I read the book in my first year of uni, when no one else had really read it despite the fact that it was shortlisted for the Booker- although my criminal law lecturer did make a reference to it when we were discussing statutory rape- and I fell in love with Ian McEwan's writing.
Then I heard that they were making a movie- oh joy- and that they were casting Keira Knightley as Cecilia.
Grrrr. Oh, I raved for a while over that.
However, she was actually GOOD, as Rosy had told me. And Briony's casting was good. In fact, the casting was excellent all round. And the acting. Except since I knew that the storyline was a total train wreck of tragedy from start to finish, it made the movie even more depressing.
Now I feel like seeing Enchanted. Again. Just because there are birds and princes and vermin that do the house-cleaning to happy songs, and everything turns out peachy in the end and EVERYONE LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
Happy!!!
The last time I felt this way was after I saw Miss Saigon, where my whole family was in floods of tears the entire way through and it was the most depressing ending to a stage musical ever.
I need something happy. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY....
3 comments:
Oh, I wanted to watch atonement!
But only because Keira Knightley was in Pride and Prejudice and James McAvoy in Becoming Jane, so it would continue my Austin dosage.
But it does sound rather depressing, so I think I may give it a miss.
I LOVE ENCHANTED. The severe happiness. The parody of all Disney films. McDreamy reprising his role as McDreamy. Thanks for the recommendation. In fact, I think I'll watch it again!
OMG! I totally did not notice you bawling. You are a quiet bawler, lol. I am kind of, except when i start sniffing.
As far as anything, I've made up my mind Atonement was a pretty good movie, but not something I would watch again. And actually the concept is not bad at all. It made me sick in the stomach, yknow how they die etc. but I don't think I would bawl over something like that. I'm more likely to bawl if it's like 'I am Sam', and a lil kid being separated from her mother, etc. LOL.
Maybe cuz I don't believe in one truelovedom.
Laters my DeaR! Watch Priscilla Queen of the Desert! It's great fun!
I saw this film with my sister, because she said she wanted to see something that suited her tastes, and not her husband's. She was disenchanted that he took her to see There Will be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis, which she said she hated. It was like some sort of redemption for her to see this film. So she came out of the theater thinking that this was much better film than the one she saw with her husband. Well, in all truth I really hated Atonement, because anything bad which can happen, does in this movie. Evil triumphs, and Good loses. Anything redeeming in value is crushed completely, squelched and destroyed without any possibility of justice or rebirth. Even love is totally extinguished. I mean, what's more hopeless than that? What I've found in life is that even in our darkest moments, that there usually a glimmer of hope, and silver lining out there somewhere. Usually, even sad moments in our life, such as the death of a friend, have some moments of healing and reflection. All is not forgotten and truth isn't buried forever.
What's wrong with this movie and the book from which it came, is that it is extremely bleak and assumes the very worst in everyone. For example, the child in this film is evil, the villains even doubly so. Usually, even the worst people I've met, have done me favors. So, I can't really recommend this film, unless you want to believe that the glass is always half empty, you assume the worst everyone and you want to spend your life on a couch at a psychiatrist's office. Why people like films like these really beats me. I hope never to see a film as depressing as Atonement ever again. Definitely, I hope to forget this film and I wish never to see it again.
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