NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) - From Joe Wright, the award-winning director of Pride & Prejudice, comes another classic romance; the epic Atonement reunites the musical forces of Academy Award-nominated composer Dario Marianelli and esteemed Decca artist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. The original soundtrack for Atonement showcases the two creative geniuses, and will be released by Decca on December 4th, 2007; Focus Features releases Atonement, starring
James McAvoy,
Keira Knightley (Academy Award nominee for Pride & Prejudice), and Romola Garai, in select cities on December 7th.
With one note 'a touch to a typewriter' the music becomes part of the story being told from the first moment of the film. Dario Marianelli's indelible theme follows the characters through their journeys across decades, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet's solo piano performances also framing their fates. The thematic piano playing is delightful and delicate, against a violin that conveys the pace necessary to the tale. The exquisite combination sustains all of the story's urgency, emotion, epic scope, and romance.
Born in Pisa, Italy, Dario Marianelli studied in Florence and later moved to London to continue his studies and set up his current base. His scholarships led him to London's esteemed Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Bretton University College (in Germany), and the National Film and Television School, where he spent three years. His composition work was featured in television shows and stage productions, leading him to work with The BBC Symphony Orchestra as well as The Royal Shakespeare Company. Marianelli's film score compositions include The Brave One, V for Vendetta, and Pride & Prejudice, for which he received an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet has been described as 'brilliant'by The New York Times, and rightfully so. At age 5, he began his music studies in France. At 12, he would join the Paris Conservatory, going on to win the Premier Prix du Conservatoire at age 15. Three years later, he won the Young Concert Artists Adution in New York City. He was honored with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France in 2001; and the Premio Pegasus at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina in 2003. He contributed piano performances to Dario Marianelli's Oscar-nominated score for Pride & Prejudice. Most recently, in February 2007, he was awarded the French accolade of Victoire d'Honneur, which is considered to be a French Grammy equivalent for Lifetime Career Achievement 'and is usually awarded to artists much later in life.
Atonement stars James McAvoy (BAFTA Award nominee for The Last King of Scotland) opposite Ms. Knightley. Christopher Hampton (Academy Award winner for Dangerous Liaisons) has written the screenplay adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling 2002 novel Atonement.
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 (Mr. McAvoy), the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia (Ms. 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.
A Focus Features presentation in association with StudioCanal and Relativity Media of a Working Title production, Atonement (www.focusfeatures.com/atonement) is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Paul Webster.
