Anna Karenina

A beautifully made, pointless thing. Really, even though I can appreciate the way the film is made, in a theatre backstage, this approach doesn’t bring any added value. Actually, I thought it was counterproductive, because the loud unrealism distracted me from the characters, which means that Anna Karenina missed me completely on an emotional level – with the minor exception of sowing hatred towards the protagonist. (12/22/2012)

Joe Wright experiments instead of sticking to the concept of a subtle and rhythmic whirlwind of emotions like in Atonement. This theatrical attempt of his doesn't have the right grace, and thanks to the varying pace and the overall bland tuning of the film, it's boring in the finale, even with Keira Knightley giving a great performance – if it weren't for her, it would be mediocre. The fateful novel could have been used "the old-fashioned way" about 100 times better. (12/27/2015)

Fortunately, this is not a heavy-handed adaptation of a heavy-handed novel. Thanks to Joe Wright, Anna Karenina is a stunningly playful piece of work, which takes the most important things from the subject, never bores for a minute and, at least for the first half, makes the viewer watch all the visual inventiveness with a smile. The acting performances, led by Keira Knightley and Jude Law, are without a single flaw (Vronský has always struck me as very sleazy, so I actually welcomed the unsympathetic dummy), the costumes, the sets, the music... Everything's perfect. Lots of literally unforgettable scenes that I definitely want to see again. (01/12/2013)

I have the feeling that after his fantastic debut Joe Wright is looking for something, trying new things, formally experimenting, but he just can’t find it. I experienced deep emotions in Pride and Prejudice and partly in Atonement, but I’ve missed them in his other films. I applaud his courage in treating Tolstoy's old-fashioned novel in the first half as a dynamic, rambunctious piece, situated for much of the runtime in a theatrical setting where sets change in rapid succession and actors present themselves with stylized movements (and it's a joy to watch). But the emotions that shook me so powerfully with the Soviet adaptation of Zarchy are simply not here, they don't surface enough and there are no tears in my eyes. I don't know if this is due to the fact that Zarchy approached Tolstoy's novel with a great deal of respect, perhaps more than that shown by Wright, or if the main stumbling block is that Aaron Taylor-Johnson lacks the manly charisma that makes women's knees buckle. Take away the subtle moustache and you immediately expect Vronsky to hop on a skateboard with his high school classmates and Anna Karenina to be in big trouble with the vice police for seducing an underage youth. The tragic ending itself touched me only very, very slightly and that shouldn't happen in an adaptation of such a fundamental novel. Still, gritting my teeth, I give it a merciful 4*, just for the courage Wright showed, because I’m always in favour of creative experiments. (02/05/2013)

Joe Wright won me over with his phenomenal film adaptations of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, so I was counting on Anna Karenina to be another film that would fully immerse me and transport me with its atmosphere to the time in which the story takes place. Unfortunately, I have to say that this time it didn't happen. The original approach to the film's space, which is largely set in a theatre, seems very imaginative at first glance, no question about it. But the great novel (story) that "Anna Karenina" undoubtedly is is very much harmed by the confinement between four "bare" walls, not to mention the way the sets and props look (the use of a model train, I don't know why, irritated me quite a bit). As for the cast, at times I felt that some of the actors didn't take their roles too seriously (maybe a connection to the theatre, who knows), which was a bit annoying. In short, this film was quite a disappointment for me, which is all the more so considering the director's previous efforts. (06/26/2013)