The Role of Atonement Trivia Quiz

Answer: Briony Tallis, aged 13

The whole film hinged on a series of events that the young Briony saw. From a window of the Tallis' grand house, she saw Robbie and her sister, Cecilia, standing at the fountain. From Briony's point of view, it looked like Robbie had demanded that Cecilia remove her dress. Cecilia had actually willingly undressed to retrieve a broken piece of a vase that had fallen in the fountain.

When Lola was attacked later that day, Briony believed that it must have been Robbie, and accused him when the police arrived.

Answer: Cecilia Tallis

Cecilia and Robbie were secretly in love, though neither of them had admitted it to the other. Their feelings for each other were revealed after Cecilia stripped down to her underwear and jumped into the fountain to retrieve a piece of a vase that Robbie had broken. Robbie wrote a letter of apology, but gave Cecilia a crude version by mistake.

In the library before dinner, they declared their love for each other. Then Briony walked in on them at an unfortunate moment.

Answer: Jackson Quincey

Jackson and Pierrot Quincey were Briony's younger cousins. They were staying at the Tallis house with their sister, Lola, while their parents went through a divorce. The boys ran away before dinner and a search party was organised. While searching the grounds in the dark, Lola was attacked by Paul Marshall. Robbie found the boys and brought them back to the house. He was subsequently arrested as a result of Briony's accusation.

Answer: Leon Tallis

Leon was Briony and Cecilia's older brother. Briony had written a play to celebrate his return home, though a combination of the 'actors' being unwilling to rehearse and the event at the fountain that Briony witnessed, meant that the play was never performed. Leon brought his friend and "chocolate millionaire" Paul Marshall home with him.

Answer: Paul Marshall

Paul Marshall was a "chocolate millionaire" according to Cecilia. He owned a successful chocolate factory and one of his sugar-coated chocolate bars was going to be included in every soldier's kit bag. At the Tallis house, he served a chocolate cocktail that he had created. Although Briony accused Robbie, it was Paul who attacked Lola.

Answer: Danny Hardman

The twins, Jackson and Pierrot, had run away from the Tallis house because they wanted to go home. When the search party went out, Lola was attacked. Whoever attacked her had covered her eyes, so she couldn't say for sure who it was. Danny Hardman worked as a handyman for the Tallis household.

He was questioned by the police concerning his whereabouts. His defensive response suggested that the police thought he might have been guilty.

Answer: Robbie Turner

Robbie was the son of a housekeeper. When his father left the family, the Tallises looked after him almost as though he were one of his own. Briony's father paid for him to go to Cambridge and since he had graduated, he was thinking of becoming a doctor.

All of that came to a crashing halt when Briony accused Robbie of attacking Lola. He was imprisoned and then, when given a choice between prison or the army, chose to fight in World War II.

Answer: Briony Tallis, aged 18

As Briony grew up, she came to realise the damage she had caused as a child. Despite earning a place at Cambridge, she chose to train as a nurse at a WWII hospital in London. While working at the hospital, she also worked on a story about Robbie and Cecilia. A fellow nurse caught her typing after lights out one night. Although it was the first novel she wrote, Briony didn't publish it until the end of her life.

Answer: Lola Quincey

Briony saw Paul and Lola on a news broadcast while working as a nurse. Paul was meeting Queen Elizabeth II regarding his chocolate company. He was accompanied by his fiancee, Lola. After attending their wedding, Briony decided that she wanted to change the evidence she gave about Lola's assault.

She went to Cecilia first and found her with Robbie. When Briony told them that Paul Marshall was the one who assaulted Lola, Cecilia pointed out that now they were married, Lola would not be able to testify against him.

Answer: Briony Tallis, aged 77

Briony had become a successful writer with 21 novels under her belt. During an interview about her 21st novel, "Atonement", she revealed that it would be her last novel as she was terminally ill. She also said that it was technically her first novel, but she felt that she couldn't publish the autobiographical piece until the end of her life.

Although Briony had promised to write the whole truth with no embellishments, she admitted that the novel was not accurate. She had not visited Cecilia about confessing the truth and Cecilia and Robbie did not end up together. Robbie died of septicemia on the last day of the Dunkirk evacuation and Cecilia died as a result of an air raid on London, both in 1940.