TOLSTOY'S ANNA KARENINA
Sherrie Lee
Written and directed by Bernard Rose
Main Cast: Anna Karenina (Sophie Marceau), Count Vronsky (Sean Bean), Constantin Levin (Alfred Molina), ìKittyî Scherbatsky (Mia Kirshner), Alexei Karenin (James Fox)
Rated: PG
Running time: 108 minutes
Rating: * 1/2 out of 5 *s
Theatres: Lido
For those who have read the novel, it would almost certainly be a superior form than the film version. Not that I have read the book and thought that the film paled in comparison. The film on its own failed to deliver coherent characterisation, leaving t he viewer confused on what to make of the main characters. Despite its lavish costumes and beautiful landscape, the film still leaves a lot of subtlety to be explored.
The story centres round two couples, Anna (Sophie Marceau) and Count Vronsky (Sean Bean) and Constantin Levin (Alfred Molina) and Kitty (Mia Kirshner). While Anna and Vronsky thrive on illicit passion, Levin and Kitty experience the opposite -- an innoce nt courtship, a grand wedding and a blissful marriage. However, there was a certain lop-sidedness to the presentation of the two couples, the one with the heat taking centerstage. The presence of the happy couple merely reminded us of the boring alternati ve to the inner turmoil and struggle between the adulterous couple and Annaís husband. Nonetheless, it should have developed a stronger presence in keeping with Tolstoyís intention (Levin as representative of the decency that the other characters lacked) instead of acting like intermissions of a tragic opera.
The tragedy was sometimes tiresome, like when Anna kept screaming her head off . There were, however, well executed moments in Annaís story. The passion aside, what was interesting to watch was James Foxís portrayal of Karenin, Annaís husband. The expres sion of cruelty, love and duty towards Anna was in intense balance, giving the character so much more credibility than the pair of lovers. Nonetheless, the final tragic end did bring out something from Anna and Vronsky. While we were stilled to watch Vron sky breakdown and utter words of infinite sadness and regret, Annaís suicide unfolded into a lyrical dream of childhood; her playful fall into the pond parallels her decided fall onto the tracks just in time for the train to crush her.
Such moments were rare and there were hardly other attempts to delve into the psyche of the main characters.. Most of the other characters seemed to be themselves overwhelmed by the grandeur of 19th century Russian houses and landscape. Sometimes the lan guage got the better of them, making them appear rather awkward. The accents were strangely uneven, for example a clear British accent in conversation with a slightly French one. Then there was also a sprinkle of Russian words here and there. These of cou rse are minor details that one should just chuck aside and really pay attention to what the film wants to say.
On the whole, it says a lot less than Tolstoy, and a bit more than melodrama. THE ENGLISH PATIENT does a lot better at presenting a doomed couple and its tragic end. ANNA KARENINA, on the other hand, makes the affair a little trite and clumsy. The intel ligence and beauty of Tolstoyís work is played around with, but is sadly still hidden in the written word. * Wait for the TV2 broadcast.
** A little creaky, but still better than staying at home with Gotcha!
*** Pretty good, bring a friend.
**** Amazing, potent stuff.
***** Perfection. See it twice.
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