Knightley's continued association with period dramas yielded varying results, as seen with two of her 2007 releases, François Girard's "Silk", and Joe Wright's "Atonement", the feature film adaptations of the novels by Alessandro Baricco and Ian McEwan respectively. While the former project failed at the box office, the latter became a critical and commercial success. Knightley was widely acclaimed and received accolades and nominations as the BAFTA and the Golden Globes for her portrayal of Cecilia Tallis, the elder of the two Tallis sisters. In preparing for the film, where she was seen opposite James McAvoy, she studied the "naturalism" of the performance as seen in the films from 1930s and 1940s, such as "In Which We Serve" (1942) and "Brief Encounter" (1945). Critic Richard Roeper, who thought the lead duo were "superb" in their respective roles, was puzzled by their failure to receive Academy Award nominations.