'Atonement'- More than Keira in it

Why is that classic stuff is made out of tragic stories ..which makes it all the more beautiful and at the same time fragile... Keira Knightley's 'Atonement' is one such story...that even after the cinematic experience some kinda longing leaves you restless and wasted .. ... Some shots are detailed with more than one perspective which adds to the intensity of the plot. A sense of regret fills in the entire life of Briony tallis, a kid now grown up and plauged by the haunting of the past blunder. She brings the characters of her play "Two figures at the fountain' alive to some kind of redemption on her part.
The Victorian era is so well detailed in not just costumes and sets, but even in the gestures of the characters and compositions of the frame. One near the pool is especially exquisite.
It reminds me similar powerful performances delivered and that bygone era rebuild in "Sense and sensibility" ; Emma Thompson with her suppressed anguish, boyish charm of Hugh Grant, Kate Winslate with her yet another bubbly effervescence. Although 'Sense..' is backed by Jane Austin's water-tight classic, I would give 'atonement' heads up for its end-treatment wherein the inner narrative of the author comes out.