Atonement

Working Title heritage film
Emphasis on characters, plot and quality
Based on a difficult to film novel
Very successful

Mise-en-scene shows the house is upper class and privileged
Briony is introduced with the fast, focussed cinematography and typewriter sound effects showing her ambition and focus on writing.
Cecilia is shown as privileged and upper class thanks to the mise-en-scene and focus on her property but she is seen smoking, so she has a more rebellious side too.
Robbie is shown as rebellious and more lively, and his actions and lack of care for the vase show this.

The characters are shown as stereotypical upper class British, but with Briony's writing ambitions and Cecilia's cigarette defies conventions a bit. Upper class characters with slightly working class behaviour.
A scene is seen from the distance to show Briony's perspective and then shown again to show how she is misreading what she sees.
The doll's house and toys on the floor show Briony's imagination and how she likes stories.
The cinematography emphasises beauty and setting, but there's a sense of tension as we keep seeing things from far away and looking around corners is seen a bit. There's a fair amount of intensity and some of the cinematography is unexpectedly kinetic.

Wallpaper and carpets are covered in flowers, so it seems natural. Briony is in control of a kingdom.
Picture shows girl praying- connotations of begging for forgiveness. The film tries to replicate the time period as accurately as possible.  Camerawork shows Briony's perspective.

Dunkirk scene- with one take the confusion and chaos of the evacuation is shown, as is how overwhelmed Robbie is. There's an emphasis on not doing things the easy way. The scene carries various anti war messages.
The film's success is partly due to the period setting and the exquisite representation of the time period. Americans are obsessed with British heritage, since they don't have as much heritage as we do. Viewers don't really require knowledge of the time to appreciate the film.