Adapting a classic piece of literature is a mean feat, especially when it’s been done several times before. Still, Russian filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov decided to take a stab at it. In a bid to revitalise the Leo Tolstoy's novel, the director turns the film into a giant flashback told from Count Alexei Vronsky’s (Maksim Matveyev) perspective. It’s sometime during the Russo-Japanese War nd Vronsky has encountered his ex-lover’s son Sergei (Kirill Grebenshchikov). The latter wants to understand his mother’s decisions and reconciles with the man who broke up his family.
Tolstoy's literary masterpiece, often described to be one of the greatest novels of all time, dealt with complex issues, which though scandalous during the time of publication are still relevant today. Shakhnazarov’s adaptation barely manages to capture an iota of the story’s nuance. Instead, his film — though visually stunning with great costume and set design — ends up simulated and exaggerated.
- Director: Karen Shakhnazarov
- Cast: Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Maksim Matveyev, Kirill Grebenshchikov
- Story line: An adaption of Leo Tolstoy’s classic set against the Russo-Japanese War
The English dubbing makes matters worse with plenty lost in translation. We never really figure out when Anna Karenina (Elizaveta Boyarskaya) begins her affair with Vronsky until they’re shown in bed (which has been hacked at by our gracious censors). Instead of a woman caught in the crossfires of her love, son and society’s expectations, Anna is reduced to a mentally unstable woman. While she quite rightly could have been plagued with some form of invisible illness, her predicament never really engages emotionally with the viewer.
But it’s her husband Karenin (Vitaliy Kishchenko) that Shakhnazarov wrongs the most. Anna’s husband is at once both a forgiving, patient man and then a monster who tortures his wife. The director can’t quite make up his mind about what to get Karenin to be, so he makes him do everything. When it comes to Vronsky, for someone whose name is in the title of the film, the poor guy gets little to do except narrate his woes with little emotion.
Anna Karenina: Vronsky's Story is a disappointing adaptation replete with suffocating melodrama that doesn’t a hold a candle to its inspiration.
