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It begins with the ending. Not in the way that films traditionally do, with their intriguing framing devices that give you a peek at the end only to back track to show you the painting inside, stroke by stroke. No, one can argue that Atonement begins only after it ends, the whole picture suddenly refashioning itself into something more troubling, ambiguous and interpretable in the viewer’s mind. Because of this backwards re-imagining and the late game showing of its hand, Atonement is difficult to talk about with those who haven’t seen it. But hopefully those people will be fewer and fewer as this fine motion picture expands. Nevertheless we’ll try to discuss without underlined spoilers.

Atonement’s epic story actually begins as an intimate one. A young, precocious girl and would-be writer Briony (played skillfully by rising star Saorsie Ronan) spends hot summer days preparing –very seriously-- for the production of her new play. She also obsesses on her sister Celia’s relationship (or, more pointedly, a recent conspicuous lack thereof) with Robbie Turner, the son of the housekeeper. Briony doesn’t understand their relationship and has a little girl’s crush on the man in question as well. Soon Briony begins to suspect (rightly so) that the two are romantically involved despite her sister’s denials. And then, horribly, a careless move on Robbie’s part meets up with Briony’s overactive imagination and her lack of sexual maturity and…  tragedy erupts.

The film follows the lovers, after their tragic separation, through the horrors of World War II. Because the leads are played by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, both magnificent looking here and convincing in their passion, Atonement fits quite neatly into the epic love story genre that it’s marketed as. But with the reemergence of Briony (now played with telling guilt and numbness by Romola Garai) fully grown, the film reveals that its true subject might not be the lovers after all.

Many have remarked on or been turned off by Atonement’s overt theatricality -- the score and the sound are often combined and showy camera work abounds.  Depending on your taste level or your interpretation of the story, the stylization is either exquisitely handled or out of control. To my mind it’s a little of both: The separation of the lovers, with Keira in the most beautiful gown you may ever see, surrounded by excessive fog, intense scoring, and a retreating camera is the former. The already famous 5 minute tracking shot of the beaches of Dunkirk is the latter, I’m sorry to inform that it completely took me out of the movie.

I don’t wish to divulge any of the secrets of the narrative for those who haven’t read the excellent Ian McEwan novel or seen the film, so suffice it to say that the last section of the film (and novel) will determine whether or not you’re a fan. And how much of a fan you are. I personally think the final coda falls short of masterfully driving the tragedies home, a bit more of an intellectual experience than an emotional gut punch. But I still loved the film.

Few films this year were as magnificent looking as Atonement and few were as misunderstood. Critics, who should have been examining Atonement’s contradictions and debating its unreliable (?)  point of view, its truths and embellishments, were instead dismissing it for being overly precious (kind of the point), overdetermined (also probably the point) and Oscar Bait. But how many films made just to seek Oscars would risk pissing audiences off so soundly? Briony wants atonement but not every audience member will be in a rush to forgive her as they leave their seat.