Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is reincarnated in this artfully crafted and beautifully acted feature film. The Alexei Karenin of Jude Law was truly masterfully presented. Karenin exuded authority, wisdom, calm and I should say stoic strength. Keira Knightley's Anna Karenina was superb in her presentation of a love-struck aristocrat seemingly oblivious to the consequences of her actions in the strict norms of the upper crust. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Count Vronsky was a teenage-like love smitten cavalry officer who was blinded by passion and broke societal conventions of his class. Domhall Gleeson's Konstantin Levin was a hardworking, sensible aristocrat who freely mingled and worked with his peasants. Rejected initially by Kitty, he nevertheless never lost his love for her. They were eventually married. Alicia Vikander's Kitty was a truly surprising character, initially attracted to Count Vronsky and possible life as a countess, she nevertheless showed true compassion for Levin's dying brother Nikolai, by taking care of him during his dying days, surprising even her husband Levin.
The movie presented the life of the Russian aristocracy as a shielded, choreographed routine. This was shown by the various scenes in the movie occurring in a stage. In fact, the movie open's with the characters on stage and practically ends with Karenin on stage. As with other aristocratic societies, the Russian elite lived their lives like a show, full of pomp, pageantry, drama and tragedies.
The movie captured the message of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in a modern, artistic, intellectual, non-judgmental way. Like the novel upon which it was based, it was a story of family, love, passion, pain, forgiveness, reconciliation, commitment, understanding and betrayal. The central core of the movie revolves around the interplay of societal norms, family and individual choice. As with the ordinary man, the elite too depends upon the family as a shield, an anchor and an avenue upon which a person extends himself to society. Society exerts a powerful influence on the individual's choices, the higher the social standing, the stricter the standard of conduct. Individual choices then are made in consideration of the family's needs and society's norms, breaking such can cause the individual and the family to suffer.
Tension is inevitable when the individual breaks the mores of accepted social behavior and such pressure can indeed have a radical impact on the individual. In the end, the movie's and the novel's protagonist, Anna Karenina, ends her life as the pressure of a broken marriage and the interests of a young, rich aristocratic lover slowly pinch on her expectations. The possibility of losing a love that has cost so much and has hurt so many was just too much for Anna and the frustration of it all, the perceived impending pain has lured her to the tracks of the train to end her life.
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