Atonement: The Shooting Script – A Screenplay of Wrongful Accusation, Enduring Love, and the Quest for Forgiveness

Filmed on location in the U.K., the story of Atonement spans several decades. In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Cecilia, he hopes, has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony―who has a crush on Robbie― is compelled to interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but he is arrested―and with Briony bearing false witness, the course of three lives is changed forever.

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.

In addition to the complete script, this Newmarket Shooting Script® book includes an exclusive introduction by screenwriter ChristopherHampton, a color photo section, and the complete cast and crew credits.

Ian McEwan is the author of a number of novels and short story collections for adults, including First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, The Comfort of Strangers, which was nominated for the Booker Prize, Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize, and his latest novel, Atonement, which was also nominated for the Booker Prize and is a New York Times best-selling title. The Daydreamer is his first book for young readers. He lives in London, England.