Anna Karenina

My favorite novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, makes frequent reference to Tolstoy's famous novel, Anna Karenina, but I'm intimidated by such big books; I finally made the faux pas of high school students everywhere and watched the movie first. 

Much of the plot can be inferred from The Unbearable Lightness of Being, so I was able to spend my first viewing savoring the cinematography. Joe Wright's 2012 film was Oscar-nominated for its cinematography, as well as its costumes. Far superior to his 2005 Pride & Prejudice, the film pairs Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley as brother and sister. Macfadyen is a comic delight as Oblonsky, the photo-negative of his stoic Mr. Darcy. It's hardly his first comedic outing, but if you saw the American Death at a Funeral, you might not know Macfadyen had it in him. What with Ripper Street and Pride & Prejudice at the forefront of my mind, I had all but forgotten. Thankfully, Knightley has vastly improved from her Austen days, having grown into herself somehow - or perhaps like Helena Bonham Carter, she's better in a corset. As her somewhat cold, but important, politician husband, Karenin, Jude Law manages to minimize his sex appeal, but maximize his devotion, only to be cuckolded by his beloved, reliable wife. At a ball, Anna usurps her cousin's suitor - a young officer, Count Vronsky. 

Here's where the film lost me a little.

Aaron Johnson plays Vronsky, with longish bleached hair; it's difficult to see what Anna sees in him. There's very little chemistry between Knightley and Johnson (not that there's any between Knightley and Law), but it's difficult to sustain any belief in the imperative, passionate nature of the affair. Anna's disregard for the conventions of the society in which she lives makes things difficult for herself and Karenin. Vronsky fares better, or perhaps the consequences hound him offscreen. 

Of course, I'm biased. I think Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) is the most attractive man in the film. Lucy's rebuttal of his heartfelt, if awkward, proposal is devastating. Their later reconciliation actually brought me to tears. ACTUALLY BROUGHT ME TO TEARS. 

Thankfully, Wright's pop-up book of a film is visually stunning. The unusual premise of setting the story in a theater, on a changeable set, allows for some truly beautiful shots. Several scenes seem to have been filmed in a snow globe. I just wish I liked the film more, as a whole, to be able to watch it again for the visuals.