In Case You Didn't Know - Keira Knightley Is Incredible.

For those who haven't heard about the new movie Atonement, it's finally been released in more USA theaters (it was only in the major cities at first). I saw it last night, and it took my breath away. I read the book a couple of weeks ago and couldn't put it down, and I'd really been looking forward to seeing it in the theater. (Keira Knightley having sex? Hell, I'll pay $7.50 every day of the week to see that...)

I won't give away too many details for those of you who have yet to see (or read) it, but there is one particular moment where Cecelia (Keira Knightley's character) opens the door to Robbie (James McAvoy) after he's sent her a letter that, ahem, ought not to have been sent. (If there is a more famous line in all of literature containing the word 'cunt' than this one, I've certainly never heard it.) It's a quick, thirty-second encounter, not really part of the main backbone of the film, but it brought out Keira's natural ability to such a degree that my jaw literally dropped. I've always had a bit of an obsession with her (and I didn't realize my sexual preferences until 14 months ago?!), but this is the first time I consciously noticed her pull something off that only a very select few actresses could have done.

In the scene, Robbie/James has arrived for dinner with Cecelia/Keira's family and is embarrassed (quite understandably), certain that he has no chance with her anymore after sending the 'wrong' version of his letter - easy enough for a decent actor to play. Cecelia/Keira, on the other hand, has to make us see that she feels she ought to be offended or shocked, but isn't really - combined with the things that she is feeling (surprise, embarrassment, slight amusement, and a certain amount of excitement and wanting). Difficult, to say the least.

Try to imagine how another actress would have demonstrated those feelings. I think most would have overplayed their hand - affecting 'embarrassed', adding a little barely-suppressed smile and maybe a demure-yet-inviting lowering of the eyes. It would have been a spectrum, moving from one emotion to the other like a checklist. And it would have been completely apparent what was going through her head, and the movie would have moved on to the next scene without anyone noticing anything unusual.

What Keira did, however, was to somehow display ALL those emotions on her face at the same time. I have no idea how she managed it - if it was conscious, if she was so 'into' her character that she just did it naturally and unconsciously, or if it was sheer luck (if the director chose the particular take where she was thinking about the pebble in her shoe or something). But rather than showing us a spectrum, rather than being overstated and making doubly sure we saw everything we were supposed to see, we saw it all together, subtly, right there on the same facial expression. This stern eyebrow is the bow to her socially ingrained response, that twitch of her lips shows her amusement, this tilt of her head demonstrates her embarrassment, that angle of her eyelashes shows her desire. It was all there. Unconsciously, I sighed in admiration, and heard Aphrodite murmur assent next to me, nodding, never taking her eyes off the screen. She saw it, too.

It was really just a quick moment near the beginning of the movie, a blip, and many of you might be thinking that it doesn't seem significant enough to merit a blog post. But I came out of the movie theater two hours after the fact still thinking about it. I've always thought Keira Knightley was beautiful and highly gifted, but this movie - hell, even just thirty seconds of this movie - moved her into a new class of talent in my mind. If Atonement is playing near any of you, I highly, highly, highly recommend you go and check it out.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my promise to post about Aphrodite's and my 'story'; it's just taking me a while to write it. Coming soon, I promise. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone.