the best bit of the ending, is that Briony never felt truly atoned for her mistake, that even in her fake reality, she couldn't escape the guilt of her actions.

Briony had the same hairstyle since birth.

Titanic didn't make me cry, neither did The Notebook, this film, it's ending utterly devastated me.

There is nothing more dangerous than a lie. this story proves that. I could only watch this movie once. Too painful.😢😢😢

You know what part of the movie did broke my heart and made me cry? When Robbie's mother starts hitting the police car with her umbrella, her pain for her only child, because she had high hopes for his future to be brighter than being a maintenence guy.

Is there an emotional support group for people who just watched this movie?

It is ironic that Cecilia ultimately drowns when the pivot for the entire tragic story involved her diving into a fountain to fetch the shard from the vase. :O Deep.

The first time I saw this film, this ending made me weep uncontrollably.

Isn't it ironic how she says thay she gave them their happy ending when in fact she actually took away all their chances at having happiness with that one stupid lie so many years ago? Writing that book wasn't for them. It would never help them, they had already died in misery. All she did was help herself. She was fooling herself to lessen her guilt. She was trying to fool herself into thinking that she was in some way compensating them. And she got money for that. Because she sold their painful story by adding a happy ending. I think it just adds to the pain and saddness you feel while watching this movie

I like to think that they were back together after death.

This was probably the biggest twist in movie history for me!

I was sobbing when I first saw this movie. Just seeing them at the end running along the beach made me so sad, knowing that it wasn't real. Great acting.

Props to Vanessa Redgrave for giving a masterful piece of acting in less than 5 minutes of screen time.

The "cheerio, pal" was the trigger that made me break those tears.

You guys need to understand that this movie isn't about whether Briony was terrible or excusable. It's about the fact that sometimes, you cause destruction unknowingly and how you deal with the terrible knowledge afterwards. You're wasting your breath cursing Briony. This movie is asking, "So what? What now?" If you do a terrible thing, and you know it and acknowledge it, what does that knowledge do to you?

This movie utterly devastated me...

I just had a real eureka moment. Remember the dying soldier Briony helps - who thinks she's his girlfriend from France. According to the author, for those few minutes, they were in love. A parallel to Robbie and Cecilia, who only had a few minutes to be together as lovers. And perhaps in-universe, Briony draws from that experience to enhance the story.

What got me the most in this movie is the scene where Robbie told his friend while they were trying to sleep in that bunker that he wouldn't make another sound and then only to find out at the end of the movie that when he closed his eyes after saying that, he died. I’d like to believe that the whole dream like state that followed of him turning back the clock to that night it all began was him finally coming back to her😭😭

Seeing robbie be left alone under those stairs on the day they were going home broke me in a way I didn't know a movie could. Cherrio pal, I cried so fuckin hard.

Just finished the book in my English Literature class and throughout studying the book, we watched the film as some of us find it difficult to 'visualise' what is happening when reading the book. We read the last chapter together and then watched this scene in class yesterday, you've probably never scene so many 17, 18 & 19 year olds cry so much over fictional characters, we were an absolute mess 😂

The ending is so sad and yet beautiful. In trying to atone for her sins she made them immortal. Their love will last forever

One of the most powerful scenes in film history

this was one of the best performances ive ever seen

Everybody hates Briony so bad, but the true villain in this story is Paul Marshall. Also, Lola clearly knew who it was, and didn't tell the truth, which is even a bigger crime than what Briony did in my opinion. Briony, in her infantile mind had a clear picture of Robbie being a pervert, saw him 'attacking' Cecilia in the library and ordering to undress in the fountain, read his crude letter which confirmed her image of him. In her mind, Robbie was outlined as the main villain, especially when Lola didn't refute the claims that Robbie was her rapist. She is a flawed character, that's for sure, narcissistic, egocentric,selfish, weak and a coward but I just can't seem to hate her despite all this. Paul Marshall was the one who truly needed to atone, but instead he married the girl he raped and got off scot free.

Whilst the end of this movie was absolutely beautiful, I feel as if Briony wrote the happy ending about Cecilia and Robbie as a way to make herself feel better. I don't think Briony gave them any happiness at all.If anything she took it away. Both Cecilia and Robbie suffered a painful and lonely death and no ending of a book would've changed the reality of that.

When you find out that robbie and cecilia died it was so quick and sudden rips your heart out

I went into this movie thinking it was going to be a regular romance movie with a happy ending. What I got was me hyperventilating on my couch from crying too much lmao

One thing I’d like to say to everyone is that this happened to lovers all over the world during all wars. So many never came home. Think about them.

Watching this scene before watching the movie was my life mistake

Love to Vanessa Redgrave here. Five minutes of the finest acting in film history. Pitch perfect.

Briony suffered her whole life. Just like the message given in the novel ‘Crime and Punishment’ by Dostoyevsky - sometimes committing the crime IS the punishment.

She was a child and had to carry that decision for the rest of her life. People need to see the other side.

I believe Vanessa Redgrave deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress more than Saoirse Ronan did. With just one short scene at the end of the film she managed to create a beautiful multi-layered performance that completely breaks your heart and even makes you feel sorry for Briony!

Amazing acting. You can see how a lifetime of guilt and regret is etched on her face.

I don't give a fuck about "how much guilt she had to live with", she ruined their lives and her own. I don't think I've hated a character as much as I hated Briony.

The music is so beautiful..

As you can see from all the comments ..there are two choices in everything. Forgive or hold on to resentments. Great film.

This is the most thought-provoking and heartbreaking movie I've seen in a long time. I think the saddest thing about it is that Briony feels so guilty, and she's had to live her whole life with that guilt. "I gave them their happiness." is probably the most depressing and heartbreaking single line I've ever heard in a movie. The part where Cecelia dies is so impacting; the music, everything. And the beach scene.. you start to get happy, and realize that it never happened. What a wonderful film!

Watching this film again now as an adult I was surprised by how different my interpretation of the plot was. I feel outraged for Bryony being burdened with all the guilt of the situation. Yes she made a mistake, she was a child and it was a mistake borne of confusion, innocence and jealousy but not malice. But where were the adults throughout the entire film? They are absent, cold, secret and uncommunicative. It’s clear Bryony spends most of her childhood alone, fuelling her fervent imagination. Her father is not at home at all (his absence isn’t explained fully), and her mother looks to be frequently “ill” with migraines. No one had any time for the children, they are simply nuisances. When she witnesses Robbie and Cecilia and is privy to his letter, do they take her aside calmly and responsibly and explain themselves like grown adults to a child? No, choosing instead to preserve themselves from the social embarrassment of their affair being discovered, they leave her to fend for herself and interpret what she has seen based on her innocent, childhood imagination. Not to mention the very fact the twins run away in the first place. Responsible adults would not allow this or created the conditions in which they felt such desperation to do this drastic action. The cousins have been failed by their parents and now their wards as they are palmed off, ignored and pitied but not treated with dignity. That the adults of the family allowed such a predator into their household who is attracted to Lola, who is extremely vulnerable is not the responsibility of Bryony. The whole book/film screams to me a dereliction of duty by the adults in a time where they didn’t have time for children and a portrait of a deeply dysfunctional family where a myriad of abuse is being inflicted on children (including the emotional abuse/ neglect of Bryony). (There is also a lot of other incendiary factors at play which create the perfect conditions for this disastrous outcome I.e. entrenched classism directed at Robbie, Cecilia obviously feels stunted and frustrated by gender norms which deprive her of a role in society, which she later rectifies as a nurse in the war etc). Emotional abuse in childhood is very complex and can change someone’s very sense of self. I think this is what has happened to Bryony as she atones for her sins right to the end of her life, blind to the abuse she suffered, and carrying such guilt for a situation she was actually powerless to control. The children are suffering from the secrecy and ironically in being lied to and shut out of the adult conversations they are forced to grow up a lot quicker.

Sometimes I comfort myself by thinking Robbie would go to war and die anyway, Cecilia same. First I read the book and then saw a movie. One of the best novel adaptation of all times!

I'm always touched by the line "I'd like to think this isn't weakness or evasion but a final act of kindness: I gave them their happiness."

I don't understand how, after reading the novel or watching this marvelous movie, still there are people who hate Briony Tallis. The very atonement is hers, she is the one who has to live for the rest of her life with the weight of a lie who ruined her sister's and her lover's lives. Can you imagine how overwhelming such a burden must be?

I first watched this last week and he ending ruined me. I cried for like three hours omfg. I'm still thinking about it. Def. one of my favorite movies. The ending just hurt so bad

This is one of the best scenes I have ever seen ; one of the best scenes ever taken .I always try to not cry when I see it. The movie itself is totally incredible.

I came here just to cry. :( this movie breaks my heart every time.

I've read the book and seen the movie several times but just thinking about the ending makes me cry uncontrollably. I still have no idea what to think about Briony.

I cry like a motherless child whenever I see this scene.

Seeing this very long film, I remembered at the end watching this incredible performance of Vanessa Redgrave. She did more with her 4 minutes of dialogue than anyone else could have done in this film. :-)

One of best acting and most heart wrenching scenes that I have ever watched. She turns out emotions upside down with such a powerful performance.

This movie is beautiful but the book is spun gold. Surreal and stripped, ephemeral and enduring, dreamy and deadly all at once. Every summer I go outside and sit in a deck chair, with the languid air moving like water, pollen blurring things like gold dust, the warm smell of hay and the sleepy sound of bugs humming as if drugged by the sun. You know when you put your hand up to the sun and you can see through it? The edges of things glow and become illusion. That's what Atonement does to me.

Everybody seem to hate Briony but I feel sorry for her. Imagine living with that guilt for so long

What Briony did was terrible, horrible, and ultimately robbed 2 people of their lives and happiness together. But at the same time, she was only 13 years old. A child who could not fully understand the ramifications of her actions. The fact that 5 years after the fact she was already regretting shows to me that what she did was not a direct product of malice in her character but more so adolescent foolishness and carelessness. I cannot bring myself to hate her for the actions of a child.

Met the author of Atonement today. He told us that he thought the casting was 👌👌👌 and that he now pictures all these actors as his characters!

What makes this story so brilliantly written is that you can clearly relate to Briony. You can definately understand her sense of guilt, how she hates herself since you've been hating her the exact same way for the rest of the film. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking.

This is how you make Romance/Tragedy with war setting, I'm looking at you Pearl Harbor.

That one scene when that soldier named Luc dies talking to Briony, and then she walks away to the halls and the 'Claude's Debussy' starts playing, like a tribute to the soldiers of the war. It was somewhat a masterpiece in itself. ❤

This story has always struck me because it proves the saying 'it's never too late' isn't true. Sometimes it's instantly too late. As soon as you've done something, there's no taking it back or changing it. I don't think Briony changing her account of that night would have made anything better - they would never have believed it was a rich, educated man from a good family over a well educated but poor man from a working class family. And Marshall was clever enough to marry Lola so the whole thing would never come out. I don't think Briony writing them a false ending was a selfish lie. They were both already dead - as she says, what did she have to gain from retelling their tragedy? Fiction has some luxuries which real life does not. Better to write them as they always wanted and deserved to be. She could have written it that they forgave her but she just chose to give them the time they never had in real life. It is her way of trying to atone for something which probably irrecovably damaged her life too. It's sad for her as well as them.

i cry again and again just hearing the music

this was and still is the prettiest movie i ever saw.i weeped so much at the end and i think i'll never recover from this amazing movie.forever my fav.

When I first saw this in theatres, this ending hit me like a sledgehammer into my stomach. It was so gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, how one person's mistake could utterly destroy two lives and prevent them from happiness.

For some reason this movie is better than the book. The acting & characters by Ian Mcewan were performed with such authenticity that the powerful storyline is well unforgettable. Plus Keira Knightley is Beautiful ✌

i cried so much when robbie died....especially when his mate said "Cheerio, pal". there is amazing acting in this film, i love it

This film is perfect and Vanessa Redgrave ties it all up with a bow. Brilliant.

I wonder what happened to Lola years later. Did she live ignorantly happy ever after until she died? Or did she one day read Briony's book and find out her husband was her rapist the whole time? Fucking terrifying thought, if you ask me.

I read "Atonement" when it first was printed. I was very young at the time, around 12. I have realized growing up that many books I read as a young teenager didn't stay with me because I was too young to fully grasp their significance: they talked about emotions that were foreign to me, and so I could *read* them, but not *understand* and *feel* them. But "Atonement" was different. It has been more than 15 years and I still remember the disbelief and the sadness that I felt when I realized that Robbie and Cecilia had died during the war. It felt like a stab. Those lines from the book have stayed with me all this time. And when the film came out, I refused to go. I cannot watch their happiness knowing it was a lie.

I wonder...even though Cecilia and Robbie never saw each other again, did she have any knowledge that had died? Also I feel like even though she 'gave' them a happy ending it always revolved around Briony..

What people forget is that she didn't only destroyed the life of her sister and Robbie, but also her own. And yeah, I get that what she did was horrible but she was only a child and had to live with the guilt for the rest of her life. So please don't loose yourself in all that hate but forgive, it's the only way to make peace with the ending

That woman makes me mad. She was indirectly responsible for the fates of Cecelia and Robbie and trying to atone for her crime by writing a book - with a bs ending - about them does nothing good for anyone. All she did was prove that she was a selfish little liar by trade and misled millions of people with her garbage. Atone for what? Jack.

That ending where they're on the beach though. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, MAN?!

"I gave them their happiness" coming from Briony is outrageous and a great one-last display of her character. She was delusional from beginning to end. She should know damn well that she was virtually the one who took their happiness from them. Giving Robbie and Cee the "happy ending" in her book was another way to make herself feel better. "Atonement" could never be accomplished now that Cee and Robbie were gone so she once again tried to comfort herself with a lie. Just as she tried to comfort her confusion and jealousy by lying about who assaulted Lola.

Vanessa Redgrave's very brief appearance is one of the greatest single-performance in history and it class up an already near-perfection picture! I sobbed when first time i was watching this scene :(

For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, “It might have been”-John Greenleaf Whittier😢

Isn't it amazing how 4 minutes of cinema can tear your soul right out of your heart?

The climax with this hypothetical scene of them walking at the beach with beams and grins does make me feel that there perhaps is a heaven with such a magnificent seashore besides which stands their own dream house. Maybe Briony’s depiction is after all not an imaginative dedication. Their remains such a tranquil place for them away from the worldly manoeuvres where they can live for each other. But that’s another heaven of immortality.

And this is how you break ppl heart after giving them high hopes

My body wasn't ready for this

I'm sorry, I have seen this movie quite a few times. The scenes leading up to her telling the truth about the book she wrote, is beautiful and sad; but one she explains to the person conducting the interview and to the audience what really happened and why she kept the truth from the readers of her book, I can't help but feel just so much anger towards her. She did this awful and unforgivable thing to two people in love and when she had the chance to fix it she did not, she was a coward. I know this is fiction, but there are people out there in most likely the same situation. Just tell the truth. She lived all this time, in comfort with the knowledge of what she has done and no paid for a single moment of it; she lost the sister and the man she loved, because she lied. Disgusting.

I love the entire movie, but this scene just feels so real it’s crazy. More so than any other scene. Makes it so much more heartbreaking and possible to imagine. Also makes you realize how many fates have probably ended in this way, so horribly inevitable.

If somebody asked me ,who is the best actor that gives the best performance in cinema history?. I would always say the same answer, this woman in this film ,in this scene....

I remember watching this for the first time and just weeping . The shot with the water just gushing down the stairs still brings shivers down my spine.

I bought this book years before I watched the film but I never finished the book. And I’m so glad I didn’t. I have never in my life been more affected by a single moment in a film like this moment. I cried harder than ever before and I saw it at the cinema and some old lady leaned over and asked if I was ok because I was sobbing like a child lol. It’s not just that they never got to live their lives together but the devastating remorse and regret the sister must’ve felt all because she told a simple lie out of jealousy when she was a little girl.

This movie made me cry. I never cry unless the emotional pain is too great.

Briony's guilt is admirable, but it is misplaced. Her sister and Robbie both died in a war that killed millions. Yet her focus is on the two of them and the happiness she feels they deserved. And she feels it was her own doing that they didn't get this happiness. I think this is the power guilt has over us. It can be hard to step back and see the big picture. We can't stop deaths from war or cancer or 1000 other things, but sometimes we convince ourselves we could have................In the end, though, I think Briony is a truly great person. She suffers in her innocence believing it would be wrong to see the truth; she doesn't seek a way out even though she clearly deserves one.

Final act of kindness my ass. You did what you did. Thinking that writing a book where they live happily ever after changes something is disgusting. It doesn't take away not just their pain, but also everything the cousin lived too, because she ruined her fucking life too.

You cannot live with that Becoming Jane ending, where did it bring you? To Atonement And now you're double depressed

I could never watch this movie completely again. It broke my heart so much. It is a beautiful movie, and I love rewatching it by bits because it is stunning, but the way I felt after watching this for the first time was so unique that I really never saw the point of rewatching it start to end ever again.

i don't cry during films, really. i didn't even cry during this one. i put off watching atonement for YEARS. i decided to watch it back in the spring and the ending fucking haunted me. i felt like a ghost. the shell of a human for a week. and now here at the end of the year i decided to rewatch the scene that cut me to my core because i thought well it probably wasn't as devastating as i remembered. i was fucking wrong.

This scene is so powerful it always makes me cry... Vanessa Redgrave is brilliant

The first time I sam this MASTERPIECE of a movie and when older Briony said at 1.25 that Robbie Turner had died I couldn´t stop crying. Life´s a Bitch! :-( Beautiful scene, beautiful acting and amazing Academy award winning music :-D

This is one the best movie endings I've seen. It's devastating.

I watched this movie for the first time last night. I didn’t expect to get so emotional. Also, my big sister is called Briony. Hehe.

Few things can make me cry every time… but this definitely can

I am breathless. I've never read the book, or seen the film. What I saw before me was what I have been seeing for years. A thousand at times. She is the one with soft beautiful hands. I know this because she touched my hand. I have been waiting for her, and I have found her. I don't know if she'd recognize me now. It's been 100 years since our hearts touched. I can see her, hear her, but I am unable to reach her. My heart, my soul is hers. I try to speak to her in words and music, pictures. I don't know if she's hearing me. I am blessed to know she is here in this life. I will find my way to you and pray you remember. With all my heart with all my being I will get there. Please believe me. I'm going as fast as I can, I never give up. Not even for a thousand years 🌹❤🙃 Always,

This was the most powerful scene in the movie by a great actress..The Dunkirk beach scene was the most beautiful..Joe Wright is a true talent. This film makes me think of all the lost lives and love that will never happen because of that war. Or any for that matter.

Most of the times, our choices in life haunts us until the very end of our lives. Nothing left but regrets. Kudos for the sad ending of ATONEMENT

This scene is the first time I cried watching a movie and I will never forget it. Such beautiful cinematography and yet terribly sad.

In the end her final lie was the only thing she could do to honor the story of the love between Cecilia and Robbie. So very sad. She gave them the ending they deserved in the only way she had left.

What a brilliant book, brilliant screenplay and such a brilliant film.

I'm not often a very emotional person but this revelation made we weep so bitterly when I first saw it.

The English word “atonement” is derived from the expression “at one” and, as applied Biblically, means a covering of sins. Atonement has the basic thought of “cover” or “exchange,” and that which is given in exchange for, or as a “cover” for, another thing must be its duplicate. Thus, anything making satisfaction for something that is lost or forfeited must be “at one” with that other thing, completely covering it as its exact equivalent.