Goofs for
Atonement (2007) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: In the section of the movie set in 1935, there is a scene where Robbie is daydreaming and the image of a four engined bomber crosses the screen. The plane is a Short's Stirling, which entered service in 1939.
  
  
• Factual errors: On arriving on the beach at Dunkirk, Robbie is told of the sinking of the Lancastria and the loss of 3000 men. This event actually occurred 17 days later on June 17 1940.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Newsreel footage from the War mentions Queen Elizabeth. Some have incorrectly assumed that it refers to Queen Elizabeth II, who was crowned in 1952. However, the film shows the Queen Mother, wife of King George VI, who was Queen Elizabeth at the time.
  
  

• Continuity: In the love making scene in the library, Robbie pulls down the strap of Cecilia’s dress and she pulls her arm out. In the next shot it is clearly up and over her shoulder again.
  
  
• Continuity: In the fountain scene, Cecilia pulls her blouse over her head before she steps in the fountain. When she rises from the water and dresses again, the buttons of the blouse are open.
  
  
• Continuity: During the library scene, Cecilia slips her shoe off while making love. When Briony interrupts, both of Cecilia's shoes are still on.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the scene where Robbie is writing the letter to Cecilia, he listens to the opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini. The recording we hear is the 1956 sir Thomas Beecham recording.
  
  
• Continuity: During the dinner party scene, Cecilia's fingernails go from being painted to unpainted, with no break in the action allowing her time to have removed the nail polish.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The bass bugle the nurse is polishing was introduced in the 1960s.
  
  
• Factual errors: The last day of Dunkirk evacuation was the 4th of June, not the 1st. The Navy officer tells Robbie that there were 300,000 men waiting on the beach, but the 1st of June, there were about 118,000 soldiers waiting.
  
  
• Continuity: When Robbie gives Briony the letter for her sister, she arrives at the fence with the hem of her collar down. In the next shot, her collar is up. In the next shot, it's down again.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Briony drops her flashlight and runs to Lola's side in the woods there is a second flashlight shining on the two, even though no one else is there.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the movie, a recording of Jussi Bjorling and Victoria de Los Angeles is heard in the movie. We see a record being put on a phonograph. The recording is from what some consider the greatest operatic recording ever but it was actually recorded in 1956. Twenty years later from the time in the movie.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: In the scene in London streets, when Robbie and Cecilia are walking, the lens of the steady cam can be seen clearly reflected in the window of a parked car.
  
  
• Continuity: When Cecilia and Robbie are in the restaurant drinking tea, Robbie has a full cup. Then the camera moves. When the camera goes back to him and he starts to drink the tea, there is no tea in the cup at all.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene when Robbie types the letter, he starts it with "In my dreams" and then presses return and starts a NEW line with "I kiss your c**t..." But later when Briony opens the letter after the rape has occurred, the first line in the letter is "In my dreams I". The second line then starts "kiss your c**t, your sweet wet c**t."
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Robbie types his "In my dreams" letter, he finishes the letter placing the period only a little ways from the edge of the paper. But when he removes the letter from the typewriter and goes to fold it, the words and period are closer to the center of the paper.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the British Army, brassards (armband) are used on uniforms to denote temporary rank or insignia. They are always worn on the right arm for uniformity. In the movie, Robbie's brassard is on his left arm whilst his colleague's is on his right. There is no insignia shown on either brassard.
  
  
• Continuity: During the fountain scene as seen by Briony, Cecilia has to rearrange the left shoulder strap of her slip. This does not happen during the flashback fountain scene.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: As the three soldiers are walking back to the coast, three war planes are reflected in the stream next to them ("Some poor blighter's going to catch a packet!") From that camera angle, the originals should be visible in the sky.
  
  
• Continuity: In the fountain scene that Briony witnesses, after Cecilia has left, Robbie sits with one leg folded under his body. When we see the scene again, he sits in a different position.
  
  
• Continuity: In the flashback at the fountain the large piece of vase disappears and reappears in Robbie's hand.
  
  
• Continuity: In the flashback of the fountain scene, Robbie yells "careful" to warn Cecilia of stepping on a large piece of the broken vase at her feet. In the fountain scene that Briony witnesses, at the same point that Robbie puts out his hand and yells "careful", there are clearly no pieces of the vase on the ground.
  
  
• Continuity: (At 1:01:39) When Robbie "rescues" Briony from her water plunge Briony is barefoot when she goes into the water and barefoot in the underwater footage. When they emerge from the water and climb ashore Briony is wearing white tennis shoes. Her foot emerges from the water 3 times to reveal this.
  
  
• Anachronisms: As the film opens, "England 1935" is displayed. When Robbie is in France, "Four years later" is displayed, which would mean 1939, and later, he mentions being in prison for five years.
  
  
• Continuity: In the lake scene at the manor house, Cecilia is lying on her back on the springboard with her left leg over her right in the first shot. When the shot changes to a closer one with her feet towards the camera, she has her right leg over her left.
  
  

• Factual errors: SPOILER: The date of the Balham tube station bombing and flood is incorrectly stated by elderly Briony as being "the 15th of October, 1940." The date of the actual event was October 14th, 1940.
  
  

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