Fortunately, the makers of the latest film
version have not even tried to fit the book into a film. What they have done
instead is slice the narrative down to every individual dramatic event and
leave nothing else. They have cut out all unnecessary words, themes, segways,
diversions and focussed entirely on three love stories and the life and ‘lot’
of aristocratic women in late 19th century Russia.
Furthermore, rather than create extravagant
sets for the drawing rooms and streets of St Petersburg, all of the action that
takes place in an old, disused theatre. It is clear that this is a not a
faithful Anna Karenina but the tale of Anna Karenina. The sets slide and glide
and the characters wander freely through the rigging and across the stage, moving
from office to restaurant to ice rink. Difficult
to accept at first, it works so beautifully as a device to speed the story
along and also to make it clear to the audience how false and misleading
is the life of a socialite. Constantin Levin, played by Domhnall Gleeson, is
the most real and grounded of all the main characters so he alone is allowed to
venture off the stage sets and out into the Russian landscape.
The film benefits from a cast of bit-characters played by actors such as Ruth Wilson and Shirley Henderson.
Anna Karenina the novel is about so much
more than the title character, but in the film, her tragic love story with
Vronsky is the key plot and almost every moment in the book is played out in
full tear-jerking-glad-its-not-me detail.
Keira Knightley and Aaron Taylor-Johnson making all the wrong decisions.
Keira Knightley is perfect as Anna, excelling as she does in corseted and bejewelled dramas. As much as I like her as an actress, there are times her breathy, shuddering performances irk me, which is perfect for the frustrating and irrational woman that Anna becomes. By the end of the novel, as much as I understood her plight, her drama queen character was irritating rather than sympathy-inducing and the grand finale of the film – foreshadowed as subtly as a mace to the head – can’t come quickly enough. Her lover Count Vronsky, played stylishly by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is almost laughable is his embodiment of Russian physical perfection but portrays perfectly his obsession with Anna, turning to exasperation as her paranoia grows and his patience thins.
Anna Karenina is sumptuous and bewitching.
We don’t want to live in this tight, constrained pattern of life but we lust for the
jewels, the extravagance, the beauty of this Empire before it came crashing
down. This is an enjoyable, visually beguiling film
with a story line cut down to the bare lesson that yes indeed, all unhappy families
are unhappy in their own, tragic way.
Great review! I am dying to see this movie, although I really ought to reread the book, which I last read in high school.
ReplyDeleteJust go to see the movie. It covers almost all of the key pieces of drama and is much much prettier than the novel.
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