Anna Karenina

Alexei Karenin: We are bound together by God and this can only be broken by a crime against God! 

Anna Karenina, the latest period drama from Joe Wright, interweaves the stories of several romantic relationships with the adulteress Anna Karenina (Keira Knightly) as the focus. Married to the dutiful and respected Alexei Karenin (Jude Law), Anna becomes unexpectedly love stuck when she meets and is pursued by the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As their affair intensifies and Karenin becomes aware of it, she is forced to choose between her child and her lover. Meanwhile, her brother Oblonsky (Matthew MacFadyen) has problems when his wife Dolly (Kelly MacDonald) discovers he is cheating on her, farmer and landowner Konstantin Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) woos Dolly's young, innocent sister Kitty (Alicia Vikander), and Levin's socialist brother Nikolai Levin (David Wilmot) flies in the face of convention by marrying a woman from a brothel, Masha (Tannishtha Chatterjee).

SPOILERS AHEAD

This adaptation is actually pretty close to the book which I have read (I'll wait for your impressed gasps to subside), but like all the best adaptations, this uses its new medium to transform it to complement the themes of the book and make it more accessible to modern audiences. Wright uses a stage with moving set pieces and painted backdrops to convey the attitudes and strictly enforced rules of behavior of the Russian aristocracy. Everything they do is watched and judged by their peers because if they disrupt the carefully choreographed steps, it affects them all. This device, which minimizes the amount of exposition necessary in the beginning, reaches a beautiful, intense climax in the dance between Anna and Vronsky which marks the beginning of their relationship. While there are still many of his trademarks as a director, Wright really takes a creative step forward with this film.

In the story of Anna Karenina, it can be difficult to know who to sympathize with. After all, Anna and Vronsky are truly in love and Anna must suffer through being shunned by the society she was raised in because of that love. Karenin isn't understanding at all and refuses both a divorce and visitation rights to Anna. But Karenin really is the one who is wronged. His wife not only shamefully cheats on him, exposing him to the censure of his peers, but also deprives him of the supportive wife he thought he married. Is he really wrong to protect his son and heir from being raised by his mother, now a social outcast that would prevent him from rising in society? Love is not an excuse for hurting others and turning your back on your responsibilities. Vronsky, the man who pursued Anna knowing she was married, is arguably the least sympathetic and deserves having to deal with her emotional meltdown since he instigated the whole situation. Anna, on the other hand, is punished for her infidelity with her intense paranoia and depression. Living with Vronsky, she can never be truly happy because she can never be sure of him, the man who lured her away from her husband. But she is not blameless either. Karenin gave her multiple opportunities to repent and return to him but she repeatedly chose Vronsky over Karenin and her son. This central story is contrasted primarily with the innocent and honest relationship between Levin and Kitty who are pure and devoted in their marriage. But we also see the effect of male infidelity on a relationship with Oblonsky, who loves his wife but indulges in dalliances with younger women, and the devotion that can exist between two unmarried people, Nikolai and Masha, who have never been unfaithful but reject social conventions.

The movie manages to convey the complexity and depth of the novel while using the visuals to enhance the storytelling and make it more accessible to people who might be unwilling to read the 800+ page novel. With lavish sets and remarkable acting, it's well worth the price of admission.