Keira Knightley has been tipped for Oscar glory after critics hailed her performace in Atonement, which had its world premiere in Venice.

Directed by Joe Wright, the film opened the festival and is in official competition for the Golden Lion award for best film.

Knightley plays Cecilia Tallis, an upper class beauty whose love affair with the housekeeper's son (James McAvoy) is destroyed by a tragic misunderstanding

The 22-year-old, who wore a pale pink strapless gown by Chanel at the premiere, played down her Oscar chances, saying: "As far as awards go, that's neither here nor there.

"Atonement was a complete gift. I read the script and I cried. Any script that makes you cry is worth pursuing."

Other British films vying for the Venice Golden Lion include Sleuth, It's A Free World and Nightwatching.

I think if Keira Knightley gets nominated, she'll be the second youngest actress to get 2 nominations (behind Kate Winslet).

More reviews

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/C ... 49,00.html

http://glennkenny.premiere.com/blog/200 ... ng-to.html

http://www.cahiersducinema.com/article1222.html

First two are very positive, praising everything. Last is slightly negative, though it's a terrible review overall.

I'm hitching a ride on this wagon. This is a sublime piece of filmmaking. Is it good enough to win outright? Impossible to say, but it will be a joke if this doesn't get a nomination.

Did you see it?

Quietly up to 15-0 on RT.

Yup saw it last Friday.

Might go again just so I can watch the Dunkirk tracking shot and go

The tracking shots in Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice were stupendous so I expect no less from Atonement.

I think Atonement is the front-runner to win from where we stand now because it seems like it's the one film with the least chance of disappointing or I should say the best chance of fulfilling expectations.

Shame, since that more or less kills any chance of it actually winning come February.

But yeah, it seems like the tightest nominee at the moment, easily. Not a lock, but still the strongest contender for now.

But its commercial prospects ae looking even worse than the ones of Crash...I don't really see it grossing more than $35-45 million...and I don't see a sub-$50 million BP winner...

Nah, I think it can make over $50 million, especially if it lives up to its hype. If Brokeback Mountain can make $83 million largely on Oscar buzz, I don't see why the more mainstream Atonement can't make $50 million. Besides, I think Crash showed that a box office performance merely needs to be impressive in the context of the type of film and release to be deemed successful enough.

But Crash was an "importat" film...Atonement isn't.

I don't see why that has anything to do with it. People didn't go see Crash because they felt they should see an important movie. They saw it because it looked good and had great word of mouth.

Atonement looks good and assuming it has good word of mouth it should do at least as well as Crash because even if Crash had alot more buzz or better word of mouth, it was released in summer and a holiday/prime oscar release date for Atonement will probably make up for the extra strength Crash had in getting people to see.

And once it gets nominated, it is destined to pass Crash's total gross just because it's in theatres during Oscar time.

Atonement won't win the big one... I'd almost bet on that.

Other than box-office obviously which is 50 mil at best, it's coming out a bit earlier than most contenders, and the reviews aren't quite outstanding as they'd need to be for a small british drama like this to win. Not really seeing any of the reviews calling it a years encompassing masterpiece or anything, just a very good 8/10-9/10 drama with top notch cinematography and acting. A bunch of the RT quotes point out flaws. If something like Charlie lives up to the expectations quality-wise and has 120 mil+, 3 huge actors, a well-known director, a huge subject, and a December release date, Atonement won't have much of a chance in comparison.

I actually it has the most fitting release date. It should start out limited but it seems like they're going for a wide release and in doing so, they've picked the one weekend where there's not alot of clutter. True, it's typically an underperforming weekend coming after Thanksgiving long weekend but it will have plenty of time to build word of mouth.

But in terms of Oscar schedule, it couldn't have picked a better time. It avoided the clutter that is September/October, skipped the commeercial November, and avoided being lost in the shuffle of last-minute December Oscar hopefuls.

But I'd agree that Charlie Wilsons' War at this moment is probably it's biggest obstacle just because we don't know what to expect and if it lives up to the high profile it has created for itself, it could be hard to beat.

I meant most of the reviews are coming in now-ish, where it'll be standing still for a good couple months waiting for the rest of the game to pick up. The buzz is high for it right now, and it's early September.

Well, I guess that's because it's British release date is coming up pretty soon.

Still don't see why that should hurt it. I haven't heard a single peep of interest for it outside this awards-circle critics/online community. My friends have never even heard of it.

Neither of those things stopped Crash.

It's already out actually.

Yeah but Lec already covered it. Crash was "important". Crash had an uber cast. Crash was very American. Crash got to be the cop-out alternative to awarding Brokeback. Crash came out in a year where every nominee was low-grossing... It was the people popular choice even with 50 mil, which would've doubled if it came out in Oscar season. And the academy caught a lot of shit for Crash so they don't want to award a small film again for a while!

Atonement won't win if for no other reason that it's British. The Queen had by far the best reviews last year and yet had no chance at winning Best Picture. I'd say BP right now is between one of the political dramas (Charlie Wilson's War, probably) and something like American Gangster, No Country for Old Men, or There Will be Blood.

You misunderstood me.

I meant it won DESPITE small box-office because it had something else going for it - it was an "important film with a message". That's what helped it to win, big time and I think most of us agreed on that.

Atonement might gross the same as Crash at the end, but this lack of a big "message" will hurt its winning chances.

well, let's not forget The English Patient 10 years ago...