FOR a director who made his name with the literary adaptations “Pride and Prejudice” and “Atonement,” Joe Wright has a surprising view of the essence of cinema. “Drama can be presented onstage, and beautiful pictures can be presented in a gallery, but really action is pure cinema,” Mr. Wright said on the phone recently.

By action, he said, he did not necessarily mean the chases and explosions that typify the summer movie season but rather “the organization of figures in space.” He added, “It’s a pleasurable thing to tell stories simply by movement.”