Product Details

• Actors: Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, Alfred Molina, Mia Kirshner, James Fox
• Directors: Bernard Rose
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: August 25, 1998
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790731614
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,727 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sophie Marceau plays the title character in this 1997 version of Tolstoy's classic, set in Imperial Russia. Bernard Rose (Paperhouse) directs, but his accent is on sumptuousness instead of performance, and the result is that much of what happens--especially Anna's affair with Vronsky (Sean Bean)--is opaque and unbelievable. (Bean in particular is badly suited to his part.) A redeeming feature is Alfred Molina's role as the narrator, but he alone can't prop up Rose's façade of grand passion. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars misunderstood film, June 7, 2000

By A Customer

The first time I saw this film I was confused. I could not understand the opening, which does not follow the novel, nor the connection between the music and the actions portrayed by the actors. Later, I saw it on a small video screen. Then the movie made sense to me since the small screen focused on the close-ups and subtle shifts of mood in the telling of the story to better effect than the large theatre screen. I recalled the experiment by Eisenstein and Prokofiev in Alexander Nevsky that links music and images together in such a way that the music leads the images in the film. It seemed to me that that may be the key to watching this film, and the next viewing confirmed it. The music is a synopsis of the grandeur, both tragic and comic, of Russia. The novel itself is a tragedy surrounded by the comedy of Levin's recognition of the meaning of God and the proper understanding of marriage within the context of God's providence. I was glad that the scriptwriter kept Tolstoy's clear moral purpose in writing Anna, which was, after all, an answer by him to Flaubert's Emma Bovary. I also thought that the film is an excellent corrective to the rather silly Hollywood emphasis on "amour" above all. The greatness of Anna is her tragic desire to see the affair all the way through to its destructive end. Tolstoy emphasizes her eyes, which squint more tightly as her life comes to an end. Vronsky's tragedy is that he is mediocre and completely out of his element with Anna. Perhaps the criticisms of Bean's performance reflect rather his excellence at playing a mediocre man and an audience's unwillingness to accept the moral criticism implied in the film that the sort of love that Vronsky felt for Anna cannot be the basis for marriage. Levin finds true love in the equality of relationship between himself and Kitty, emphasized also in the Orthodox theology of marriage shown in the wedding sequence (which is also the center of the novel). Although it took me a while to understand how to "see" this film, I think it is the best film rendition of a Russian novel I have seen. It also seems to be the sort of criticism of Hollywood movies I would expect from someone as traditional as Mel Gibson whose company produced the film, and all I can say to that is "Do More."

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Most Beautiful Production, February 21, 2005

By	Donegal Dan (Southwest United States) - See all my reviews

It's been a long time since I read the book and I think this film takes some liberties with it, but I don't care. I enjoyed it purely as a "doomed love" story. I liked this better than any other version of Anna Karenina that I have seen, primarly because of the beautiful cinematography, the glorious music, the extravagantly beautiful interiors and the presence of Sean Bean, who has to be the sexiest Vronsky of all time. Sophie Marceau was not a bad Anna and at least, unlike some versions I have seen, it wasn't hard to see why she would inspire Vronsky's obsession. And the ballroom scene was one of the most beautiful and sweepingly romantic I have ever seen. There was a little too much of the Kitty/Levin relationship and Levin's voiceover ramblings were at points pretty boring but the movie overall is really a jewel in every way--very romantic, two beautiful protagonists, exotic settings and a score second to none.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Beautiful!, June 25, 2003

By	nadya "nadezhda76" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

There are some (well, many) plot alterations that might bother certain people, but Marceau is fabulous as are Fox (who plays Karenin) and the actor who plays Vronsky. The sound track is truly transporting and in general this is one of my favorite videos. They should have given Levin and Kitty more screen time because those characters are just as important as Anna and her scandal. A good portrayal of the temptation to stray and the severe and grim consequences. Yes, a cautionary tale. Probably what Tolstoy intended.