By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

In theaters:

Atonement (Focus)—Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, Joe Wright’s film adaptation of “Atonement” is an epic achievement in terms of the emotional upheaval it stirs in both the characters and the audience, and in the scope of the personal and historical events of the film.

In England, in 1935, fanciful and precocious 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) is at her typewriter typing out a play to be performed by her visiting twin cousins Pierrot and Jackson (Felix and Charlie von Simson, respectively) and their older sister Lola (Juno Temple). Briony’s older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy), the son of the Tallis’s housekeeper Grace (Brenda Blethyn), are acting out their own drama near the fountain on the grounds of the Tallis estate. A long simmering sexual tension between Robbie and Cecilia, who have known each other since they were young, threatens to boil over.

As it heats up, Robbie is soon at his own typewriter, composing both an apology for the fountain indiscretion and an erotic love note, unable to decide which to present to Cecilia. The latter wins out, and after asking Briony to deliver it to Cecilia, Robbie realizes he has made a grave mistake, though he has no idea how much so. Immature Briony, who has long harbored an unrequited crush on the older Robbie, reads the letter before giving it to her sister. After discovering the two in a compromising position in the library, Briony begins to act strangely during a family dinner celebrating the return of brother Leon (Patrick Kennedy) and his friend, chocolate millionaire Paul (Benedict Cumberbatch). The sexual tension in the household isn’t limited to the aforementioned character, as Paul finds himself drawn to the considerably underage Lola. When the twins go missing during dinner, a search party is organized, and during that time Briony stumbles upon Lola being sexually compromised by a man who runs from the scene. The police are summoned and with her young and confused mind on sexual overload, Briony accuses Robbie of the act.

Robbie returns from searching for the twins, with the boys in tow, and is taken into custody, much to the dismay of Cecilia. Robbie is sent to prison, and four years later, with England embroiled in the Second World War, he is a British army soldier in France. Cecilia, who no longer has anything to do with her family following the incident, is working as a war nurse. Briony (Romola Garai), now a few years older, has also become a nurse, as if to do penance for the damage she has caused, while continuing to pursue her dreams of becoming a writer. It is then that “Atonement” becomes about the power of happy endings, something that you may have guessed is inevitably out of reach for these characters. Late in the film, when a considerably older Briony (Vanessa Redgrave), who has become a successful and beloved writer, is being interviewed on TV for her 21st, and, as it turns out, final novel, titled “Atonement,” everything comes full circle in a “final act of kindness” so powerful it’s hard to imagine how there could be a dry eye in the house. Everything about “Atonement” is compelling and dazzling, from the performances to the costumes to the recreation of the period, and, of course, the devastating revelation that awaits viewers at the finale.

Limited runs:

Block Cinema in the Pick-Laudati Auditorium at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus presents a screening of “Spellbound,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 classic murder mystery, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, at 8 p.m. Dec. 5.

Scion’s Independent Film Series presents a screening of Daft Punk’s “Electrorama” Dec. 6 at Piper’s Alley, 1608 N. Wells.

What Hitchcock did for showers he then proceeded to do for our fine feathered friends with 1963’s “The Birds,” starring Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor, screening at the Block Cinema in the Pick-Laudati Auditorium at the Mary and  Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m.

The 1st Romanian Film Festival of Chicago screens films including “Occident,” directed by Cristian Mungiu, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. and “Bless you, Prison!” (“Binecuvantata Fii Inchisoare”), directed by Nicolae Margineanu, Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stan Mansion, 2408 N. Kedzie.

Elastic Arts Center, 2830 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Floor, presents “Threat Level: An Evening of Queer Shorts” Dec. 11 at 8 p.m.