Winner of Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama

“A masterful adaptation…the best British film in years”- Sunday Times Culture
 

‘ATONEMENT’

 

OUT TO OWN ON DVD
ON 4TH FEBRUARY 2008

From Joe Wright, the BAFTA Award-winning director of “Pride & Prejudice”, comes “Atonement” - beautifully adapted from the best selling novel by Ian McEwan. Nominated for seven Golden Globes®, “Atonement” is a classic British story of romance, misconception, jealousy, guilt and justice that will tug at the heartstrings. With a dream cast headed up by Academy Award® nominated actress Keira Knightley starring opposite James McAvoy (BAFTA Award nominee for “The Last King of Scotland”), the pair star as a mixed-class couple whose love is doomed by a child's lie and World War II.  Atonement is available to own on DVD on 4th February courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK).

Shot on location in the U.K. and spanning several decades, the film's story begins in 1935 on the hottest day of the year. 13 year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) sees her older sister Cecilia (Knightley) strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper's son Robbie Turner (McAvoy) a childhood friend who, along with Briony's sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge.
 
Cecilia and Robbie have strong feelings for each other but Briony, a fiercely self-possessed writer, who also has a crush on Robbie, cruelly shatters their hopes and dreams when she misinterprets an intimate encounter between the two that she glimpses from a distance, providing her with the opportunity to invent a false accusation against Robbie that all three characters will regret for the rest of their lives. Over the years, Briony continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.

Joe Wright comments, “When we made Atonement, the cast, some crew and I all stayed together in an old rented farmhouse in Shropshire [near Stokesay Court, which doubled as the Tallis family home]. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner there, and lived together in this basic but idyllic way. And we made a film down the road, five minutes away. That was our little world, and we couldn't have been happier.”


This stunning romantic British adaptation is a ‘must have’ self-purchase and an ideal gift for Valentine’s Day. “Atonement” – the greatest love story of the year, is available to own on DVD from 4th February courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK), and features a host of extras including deleted scenes with commentary by Director Joe Wright, The Making of Atonement, Novel to Screen and Feature Commentary with Director Joe Wright.

Atonement Winner of Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama

6 Golden Globe Nominations:
•    James McAvoy for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
•    Keira Knightley for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
•    Saoirse Ronan for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
•    Joe Wright for Best Director – Motion Picture
•    Christopher Hampton for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
•    Dario Marianelli for Best Original Score – Motion Picture


Golden Globe® is a registered trademark of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Universal Pictures International Entertainment is independent from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Oscar® and Academy Award® are registered trade marks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

CAST & CREW

Keira Knightly        Cecilia Tallis
James McAvoy        Robbie Turner
Saoirse Ronan        Briony Tallis (aged 13)
Brenda Blethyn        Grace Turner
Romola Garai        Briony Tallis (aged 18)
Vanessa Redgrave    Briony Tallis

Director:        Joe Wright
Writer:             Ian McEwan (novel)
            Christopher Hampton (screenplay)            

ATONEMENT DVD EXTRAS

-    Briony Rips Poster
-    Emily Speaks to Jack
-    Cecilia and Leon on Terrace
-    Dunkirk: Alternative Start
-    Walking through the fields
-    Under the bridge
-    Ice Factory

DVD TECHNICAL DETAILS
Release date:         Monday 4th Feburary 2008
Running time:         117 minutes approx            
Format:                  1 Disc DVD            
CERT:                    15                    
Price:                     £19.99 RRP        
Cat No:                   8253251


Universal Pictures (UK) is a division of Universal Pictures International Entertainment which is part of NBC Universal - one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.