Anna Karenina
2012 · Directed by Joe Wright
Original language: English
- drama
- romance
- history
The story
In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.
What it’s like
Joe Wright's 2012 Anna Karenina is staged as a theatrical proscenium, with the camera drifting through sets that rebuild themselves mid-scene: ballrooms that become train platforms, a horse race staged on a painted stage floor, snow falling through a gilded theatre. The palette is rich and sumptuous, with deep reds, bottle greens and gold against muted greys, and the lighting shifts from candlelit warmth in drawing rooms to cold, flat daylight in the country estates. Camera moves are long, looping and fluid, sometimes sweeping across a room in a single take, and the score leans on swelling strings and tense, rhythmic piano that rises whenever the characters' feelings spill over. The vibe is lush, sad and formally playful, with a steady undertow of dread. Pacing is brisk and heavy with ceremony, the rhythm of a waltz with its sudden stops. Emotionally the film follows a woman who fights to hold on to desire against the rigid expectations around her, and her lover, who is pulled between passion and social standing. Violence is brief and largely offstage, though there are a few sharp moments, including a horse-race fall and a suicide that lands with stark, quiet finality. Romantic and sexual content is frank but not explicit. It suits a slow, rainy evening for viewers who enjoy costume drama, stylised staging and classic literary tragedy.
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