Landscape and Setting

The Tallis Estate

The "Atonement" story takes place mostly in and around the Tallis estate, which is located in England. The film begins with a lot of focus on the mansion and beautiful landscape that surrounds the home. Nothing was left out, from the enormous home with beautiful features, to the forestry and gardens that surround the mansion, and the huge grassy field which is the home of what is probably the most important; or one of the most important aspects of the film; the fountain.
Wright and production designer, Sarah Greenwood, were extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon the Stokesay Court property. Not only does the mansion portray great wealth and isolation due to the forest areas surrounding the property, it also had an existing fountain base for Greenwood to work with, making the transformation into the Tallis estate slightly less difficult to complete. The property already had many of the features they were looking for, it just had to be livened up a bit, with a few of Greenwoods touches here and there. When Greenwood successfully completed her task, the transformation was ready for the over six weeks of filming, both inside and outside the mansion, as the "Tallis" estate.

Dunkirk

Redcar seafront, a "peaceful" resort, was transformed into the remains of Dunkirk for the after war scene in the film. The transformation took several weeks to complete as well as 260 tons of sand and rubble being relocated. Benches, flagpoles, railings, and streetlights were also removed, and even the re-construction of many buildings took place to create the war-destructed Dunkirk. Although this transformation was no easy task, it was a huge success, portraying Dunkirk extremely well for this scene in the film.

Please View:

Stokesay Court

Transformation of Redcar