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Anna Karenina review

Joe Wright's reimagining of the classic Russian love story is striking to look at, but the beauty is only skin deep

Many have tried and most have failed to adapt Leo Tolstoy’s doorstop-sized Anna Karenina novel, set in 19th Century Russian high society. So you have to admire the bravado of Joe Wright, the British director who has already impressed with his takes on Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’. Of course, he’s not alone – with the esteemed playwright Tom Stoppard on script duties and Wright’s actress-of-choice Keira Knightley cast in the title role.

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Returning to period drama after two contemporary outings ‘The Soloist’ and ‘Hanna’, Wright borrows from that old Shakespearean maxim that the whole world’s a stage – quite literally. With events primarily playing out in a grand auditorium, his bold conceit sets a number of scenes under the proscenium arch – turning the arena into an ice-skating rink, a railway station, a race track and even lifting the roof off to let fireworks reach the skies. Eye-catching, extraordinary, breathtaking, it’s where the film truly comes alive.

Watch the trailer for 'Anna Karenina'

Inevitably, Stoppard has been forced into a dramatic distillation of Tolstoy’s book, pruning away the political subplots to emphasize the story of Anna, who shocks society – and her ageing husband Karenin (Jude Law) – when she takes up with cavalry officer Count Vronsky (Aaron Johnson). What follows is a gradual shunning by her peers, coupled with her own mental disintegration as she becomes wracked with paranoia regarding Vronsky’s infidelities – like the grandest soap opera you could ever imagine.

While Law gives one of his more understated performances, Johnson still looks like the kid from ‘Kick-Ass’, way out of his depth. Fortunately, Wright gathers an impressive British and European cast in support – with everyone thankfully using their own accents rather than attempting Russian ones. Stand-out performances include Knightley’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ co-star Matthew Macfadyen as Anna’s womanizing brother Oblonsky and Domhnall Gleeson as landowner Levin, whose luckless love life runs parallel to Anna’s own increasingly tragic existence.

Watch a clip from 'Anna Karenina'


Admittedly, the success of Wright’s film lives or dies by his Anna Karenina. After her risk-running David Cronenberg experience with ‘A Dangerous Method’, Knightley is clearly an actress who revels in a challenge – though while she puts body and soul on the line, the result is largely surface-deep. Wright doesn’t really help – too entranced by Anna’s fabulous array of costumes (beautifully designed by Jacqueline Durran) or Knightley’s tear-strewn face. Note to Joe – showing the latter in close up, repeatedly, is not a shorthand for psychological insight.

With the film featuring just about every other British actress with an Equity card (Emily Watson, Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson, Ruth Wilson and Michelle Dockery all make appearances – though a withering Olivia Williams rules the roost), Knightley is left to look lost at times. She’s not the only one. Running at just over two hours, such is the mammoth task of bringing Tolstoy’s story to the screen, Wright struggles to keep the early momentum going. It’s still beautiful to look at and packed with enjoyable performances. But some books are just best left untouched.

Watch our exclusive interview with the cast of 'Anna Karenina'

Rating: 3/5

Certificate: 12A
Released: 7th September 2012