Customer Reviews

Anna Karenina

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I absolutely love this film. I have watched it at least a dozen times. Sean Bean and Sophie Mareau are marvelous in their roles. The main supporting actors are also perfectly cast in the parts they play. Every bit of the film is crafted with particular care from start to finish.

The book by Tolstoy is so long, it is brilliant that this film deals with not all of the themes, but centers on the relationships of 3 main couples. A secondary theme is the contrast between false piety displayed by Anna's husband and his friend the self-righteous and self-serving countess, and true piety which grows in the character of Dimitri and his relationship with Kitty. In the end, the unfaithful lovers pay the price for their wilfulness, but even the tragic ending is beautifully played out in the acting and in the way the scene is staged.

All in all the ballroom scene is my favorite. The costumes, the setting, the dancing are superb.

You will love this film.

This movie is one of the two 'must avoid' Annas. I think Sophie Marceau is wonderful, but not in this movie. Either she just did not 'get' Anna, or the director didn't; either way, the movie reduces to nothing more than a beautiful woman walking thru various scenes. [As was the version with Jaqueline Bisset].

The two great Annas are first, Garbo's (a straight take on the novel, less a romance and more a movie of social mores and the injustice of the divorce laws that was Tolstoy's focus). The second was with Vivian Leigh, done as a deeply romantic tragedy, and much the twin of her equally brilliant, equally tragic, and often overlooked 'Waterloo Bridge'.

I own and cherish these three films; buy them ! I've rented and been appalled at the other two.