Anna Karenina (movie)

I haven’t read the book, nor had I ever seen a film version of the story. My focus on English language literature makes for little knowledge of other novels that everyone should have read. So without knowing what to expect I went to the film.

Keira Knightley plays the Petersburg heroin who’s married to a boring politician. Then she meets the young and handsome soldier Vronsky with which she has an affair. It is a standard love story in which the main character has to make choices in a society where woman that cheat on their husbands lose everything, including their children. The story also paints a picture of the Russian way of life in that time and the discussions people had about communism and one’s place in society. It is difficult to explain. At the moment I’m reading the 800+ pages book and am getting to know the background in more detail.

The movie is shown as a staged play, combined with many surprising visual effects. Sometimes there is literally people coming on stage to change the set. Actors walk of stage into the area where you would expect the audience and instead there is people dancing at the ball. The prince can exit stage left and enter into a green meadow with stunning views. This staging makes you feel as if it is a play and makes the actors more real. You feel closer to what is happening.

Keira’s acting sometimes is a bit too much. Although in this role it is less annoying than it would be in another kind of movie. I think she was cast well. The drama and passion and conflicted emotions are presented as they should. Indeed, the movie keeps close to the novel (as far as I have read the novel) and as the novel is regarded as a masterpiece there’s no need to change much. The format is typical for film, but the content is maintained. 5 stars.