It is based on the novel by Ian McEwan. The film chronicles a crime and its consequences over six decades, beginning in the s. It was produced for StudioCanal and filmed in England. Distributed in most of the world by Universal Studios , it was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 7 September and in North America exactly three months later on 7 December Atonement opened both the Vancouver International Film Festival and the 64th Venice International Film Festival , making Wright, at age 35, the youngest director ever to open the Venice event.
Critics praised its acting, emotional depth, Wright's direction, Dario Marianelli 's score, the cinematography, editing, visuals, and the film's incorporation of real-life events. In England , year-old Briony Tallis, the youngest daughter of the wealthy Tallis family spies on her older sister, Cecilia, and the housekeeper 's son, Robbie Turner with whom Briony is infatuated , from her bedroom window.
During Cecilia's and Robbie's argument by the garden fountain, Robbie accidentally breaks a vase and yells at Cecilia to stay where she is to avoid cutting her feet. Still angered, Cecilia strips off her outer clothing and climbs into the fountain to retrieve one of the glass pieces. Briony observes from the window and misinterprets the relationship between Cecilia and Robbie.
Robbie drafts a note to Cecilia to apologise for the incident. In one draft, he pens his unfiltered feelings of attraction for her in explicit language. Although he never intends for anyone to see this version of the note, he mistakenly places it instead of the second more formal note he drafts in an envelope which he asks Briony to deliver to Cecilia.
Briony reads the letter before giving it to her sister. Later, she describes the note to her year-old cousin, Lola, who calls Robbie a "sex maniac". Paul Marshall, a visiting friend of Briony's older brother Leon, introduces himself to the visiting cousins and appears attracted to Lola.
