Anna Karenina

One can always count on period films being lavishly produced, with amazing costumes, production design, makeup, cinematography, and a sweeping original score. Well, with "Anna Karenina", we got production values that went off the charts.

The third collaboration of Keira Knightley with director Joe Wright, following the award-winning successes "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement", is a bold, theatrical new vision of the  epic story of love and lust, adapted from Leo Tolstoy's timeless novel by Academy Award winner, Tom Stoppard ("Shakespeare in Love").
This is Imperial Russia in the year 1874. The story powerfully explores the capacity of love that surges through the human heart. As Anna (Knightley) questions her happiness and marriage to Karenin (Jude Law), change comes all around her in the form of the meeting and temptation of younger, Count Vronsky (Aaron Johnson). Is this love or is it lust?

Others to round out the cast are Matthew MacFadyen as Oblonsky, Domhnall Gleeson as Levin, Alicia Vikander as Kitty, Kelly MacDonald as Dolly, Ruth Wilson as Princess Betsy Tverskoy, Olivia Williams as Countess Vronsky, and Emily Watson as Countess Lydia Ivanovna.

This was well directed by Joe Wright ("Pride & Prejudice" '05, "Atonement" '07, "The Soloist" '09, "Hanna" '11) in that he knew where he needed to place his actors so they were in the best position and paced in just the right way. It was well written by Tom Stoppard ("The Romantic Englishwoman" '75, "Despair" '78, "The Human Factor" '79, "Brazil" '85, "Empire of the Sun" '87, "The Russia House" '90, "Billy Bathgate" '91, "Shakespeare in Love" '98, "Enigma" '01) based on Tolstoy"s novel. It was accurately written, however the subject matter is certainly something we've seen quite a bit, but this isn't any fault of Stoppard.

The adage that I thought of while seeing the character of Anna unfold was, "oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive". Anna clearly wanted her cake and eat it, too, which is just not realistic. Knightley simply gives the performance of her career, probably receive an Oscar nod as Wright for direction.

If you liked "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement", you'll love this. Even if one isn't a fan of these type of stories, the production values: music, costumes, production design, makeup/hair, etc., this will still be able to keep the attention of those people even though it's a bit long in the tooth.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                      Rated: R                        130mins.