| Anna is an exemplary wife and mother who breaks the rules of propriety by abandoning her husband Alexei Karenin (Jude Law) in favor of the young Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Shunned by society, disowned by her family, barred from seeing her child, and tortured by the fear that Vronsky will abandon her for a younger woman, Anna begins to unravel as she realizes the full ramifications of her choice. Magnifying the story’s drama, director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Hannah) sets his film almost entirely within the confines of an old, majestic theater. The result is a feeling that life is a show, complete with sumptuous costumes, ecstatic choreography, intriguing set changes, and fateful plot twists. Literally closing the walls in on its characters, Wright’s Anna Karenina becomes a rendition to get lost in as it accesses the deep, overwhelming emotions that lurk beneath civil society. |
