Jude Law as Karenin |
Friday, February 15, 2013
Oscars 2013: Anna Karenina
Nominated for Four Oscars
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Music (Original Score)
Best Production Design
Joe Wright
(Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) as the director: good. Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Real Thing,
Shakespeare in Love) as the screenwriter: even
better!
Comparing a
film based on the classic Tolstoy novel is, of course, monumentally unfair.
However, there is nothing to be done about it – the comparison will be made
regardless. Need we review the plot? If you are reading this blog post I think
it is likely that you are well versed in the plot details and my obsession with Tolstoy's novel.
The new, the
intriguing aspects of the film: the story is presented as if done on stage,
this is difficult to describe and must be seen. There is an element of
theatricality, of unreality, to the film that is rather beautiful. The scenery
and costuming are gorgeous, sumptuous, exquisite. Every production detail is
lovingly and beautifully done. Certain scenes resemble balletic dances with odd,
yet lovely, movements as the characters segue into the next scene. The reasoning behind this is unclear to me - is it merely the old Brechtian artistic vision on Epic Theatre that "the audience always be aware that it is watching a play"?
The story moves
swiftly from Anna and Vronsky’s illicit romance to a much more subordinate
subplot involving the relationship between Kitty and Levin. This is not true to
the novel, where the latter’s relationship is at least as important as the
former’s. The Kitty/Levin relationship is given short shrift here – nearly all of the
tension regarding Levin’s animosity towards Vronsky, as Kitty’s previous suitor, and
Kitty’s anger towards Anna is absent.
But on to the
more problematic aspects of the film: Keira Knightly (as Anna) and AaronTaylor-Johnson (as Vronsky) are, I feel, inappropriately cast. Both are too youthful. Knightly lacks
Anna’s soulfulness and sense of anguish, not to mention lacking her mature
beauty. It’s difficult to see her as the emotionally complex Anna who is torn
between her love for Vronsky and her love for her son Seryohza. Taylor-Johnson
presents as far too young for Vronsky – although handsome in aspect he lacks in
sexual appeal for me as a film goer. His performance is sometimes petulant,
unappealing and it remains a mystery to the filmgoer why Anna would destroy
herself over this puppy.
Knightly, half
dressed and walking in a daze, hardly convinces one of her emotional
deterioration and mental instability. Jealousy, recrimination and paranoia was
a slow poison that invaded Anna’s spirit – that is not communicated here because we move so quickly in the film from Anna's initial unhappiness with Vronsky to her suicide.
The one bright
spot is the casting of Jude Law as Karenin, Anna’s husband. In a lovely twist,
Taylor-Johnson actually looks remarkably like a younger version of Law –
prettier and shinier, but very close in resemblance. Law's performance is
restrained, suggesting both inner turmoil and supreme self-control over one’s
emotions – exactly as one imagines Karenin to be.
The length of
the novel, which exceeds 800 pages, necessitates a certain economy in 129
minutes of film; however, the film feels truncated and emotionally unfulfilling,
virtually eradicating the last third of the novel. When the tragic denouement
comes, it is quick and lacking the tragic punch of the book. The most horrific
aspect of Anna’s death is her last minute confusion as she lies fallen on the
tracks and her intense desire not to die when she realizes what she has done.
Still there are
enormous expectations to fill with this film and it is valiant of Wright and
Stoppard to try.
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