IT'S a stately, sepia-toned epic film about love and war, life and death, truth and lies in pre-World War II Britain - but in the few days since its release, “Atonement" has become, for a certain segment of the audience, solely about that green dress.
“Where is the green dress Keira Knightley wears in ‘Atonement' from?" asked one desperate poster to Yahoo Malaysia. “Please help!!!"
“Oh my gosh, that green dress!" wrote another fan in response to the dozens of blog posts about the gown, which has evoked a depth of emotion that rivals the impact of the film itself. “I LOVED the green dress Keira wore," wrote a reader at Marie Claire's UK Web site.
Even film critics are not immune: “Ms. Knightley is not out-acted by ‘that' gorgeous green dress," wrote one British reviewer; the Washington Post's critic, meanwhile, noted the “clinging green chemise that makes [Knightley] look like a pinned insect in one pivotal and deeply erotic scene."
“That green dress" - which may well become as iconic as Audrey Hepburn's black one in “Breakfast at Tiffany's" - is worn by Knightley for just a fraction of the film's two-hour running time. But it's in that dress that the movie's heroine - Knightley's arch, privileged Cecilia Tallis - teases her lower-class suitor, realizes she's in love with him, has sex in her manor's library, is betrayed by her younger sister, sits nervously on her outdoor steps and smokes, and has her heart broken. In other words: It had to be some dress.
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