In English - Anna Karenina (movie) - Bernard Rose

   Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoï is one of my favorite books ever. That is why I wanted to watch one of the movies. I saw the 1997 movie starring Sophie Marceau as Anna Karenina. Please forgive my mistakes...

Title: Anna Karenina
Director: Bernard Rose
Starring: Sophie Marceau as Anna, Sean Bean as Vronsky, Alfred Molina as Levin, Mia Kirshner as Kitty Shcherbatsky, James Fox as Karenin
Year: 1997
Country: Great Britain

Plot

   Konstantin Levin is a Russian aristocrat who lives in the country. He is in love with Princess Kitty Shcherbatsky, and proposes to her, but she refuses, because she loves count Alexeï Vronsky, a brilliant officer. But Vronsky meets Anna Karenina, a beautiful young married woman who has already a son, Gricha. They love each other passionately. First, Anna tries to reject Vronsky's advances,  but he follows her to Petersburg. Anna's husband is too old and conformist to understand her, that is why she becomes Vronsky's mistress. One day, she decides to confess her  husband to everything...

My opinion

   First, I do not think that the atmosphere was right. In any case, I did not find the atmosphere of the book again. Then, I find the movie aesthetically averadge. The lights were leaden, the hairdresses ugly. Nevertheless, the dresses were nice. 

   Then, to my mind, the characters'personnality was not developped enough, the relations betwin Anna and Vronsky were touched on, so as Anna's suicide seemed inappropriate. The oposition between Levin and Kitty's happy couple, and Anna and Vronsky's troubled couple was not as clear as it should have been.

   As far as comparing with the novel is concerned, the film is globally like the novel (except that Anna's daughter is not mentionned), but it does not have all the subtle details which make Tolstoï's novel brilliant. The character of Levin, who was my favorite one in the novel, due to his spiritual doubts, is hardly developped, like all the country life and the spiritual and philosophical dimension that are so important and interesting in Tolstoï's books.

   That is why I was so disappointed about this film. For my part, I think it is really not as good and close to Tolstoï's work as the excellent War and Peace, a 2007 TV movie directected by Robert Dornhelm, which was really awesome.

To conclude
   2/5; disappointing

 

  I have finished readind Perfume, by Patrick Süskind, and I will write something about it soon.