There is an entry called "storyline" on this movie's main IMDb page and it very well sums up what the story and the movie are about. This is based on a famous, old novel and has been done many times. So how do you do a modern version that has an interesting, novel approach?
Director Joe Wright, who did one of my favorites, "Hanna", and also "Atonement", hit upon an idea that for me works wonderfully. Wright himself grew up with a puppeting background and shot this movie almost in that style, with real actors of course. Instead of seeking out real locations for most of the story, he had a large set built which looked like an old, somewhat dilapidated, Russian theater, but without seats fastened to the floor in the large open area.
Except for a few excursions out into the real world, almost all of the movie is shot in various parts of this theater, using the stage or lobby or stairs or open areas with appropriate furniture and props to suggest a bedroom or board room or office of paper-pushers. Even an entire horse race is staged in the theater. For scenes which required an audience in the theater, portable seats were brought in. All-in-all a great idea.
As Wright explains in the DVD commentary, having most of the movie filmed in the theater setting serves as a reminder that what we are seeing isn't real, it is a story. And it also serves as a metaphor for life, where people are often going about their daily lives pretending to be something they are not, thus really being in a theater.
Set in 1874 Imperial Russia, Jude Law is the serious aristocrat Karenin. Keira Knightley is his wife Anna Karenina . We perceive that he loves her, and certainly has strict core values which include marital fidelity. The problem arises when Anna needs to travel to help her brother with his domestic issue caused by infidelity with the governess, and on this trip Anna meets the young cavalry officer Aaron Taylor-Johnson Count Vronsky, who in spite of Anna's objections pursues her until she finally gives in, and that begins the end of her marriage and ultimately her life.
All the actors are very effective. I have been a Knightly fan ever since I first saw her in the first "Pirates" movie and she is superb here.
All the extras on the DVD are interesting and worthwhile. The one I enjoyed most, and is quite novel, is an 8-minute time-lapse. A camera was set up in a high far corner position when the set was being built, and it remained there through the entire filming of the movie. So, in 8 minutes you can see what all went on, the changes made in the floor or the props as scene requirements changed, actors coming in, scenes being filmed, and dead time when nothing was going on. I found that watching this time-lapse video right after watching the movie was a nice treat to complete my viewing experience. And serves as a final punctuation that it is fiction, a movie for entertainment.
Director Joe Wright, who did one of my favorites, "Hanna", and also "Atonement", hit upon an idea that for me works wonderfully. Wright himself grew up with a puppeting background and shot this movie almost in that style, with real actors of course. Instead of seeking out real locations for most of the story, he had a large set built which looked like an old, somewhat dilapidated, Russian theater, but without seats fastened to the floor in the large open area.
Except for a few excursions out into the real world, almost all of the movie is shot in various parts of this theater, using the stage or lobby or stairs or open areas with appropriate furniture and props to suggest a bedroom or board room or office of paper-pushers. Even an entire horse race is staged in the theater. For scenes which required an audience in the theater, portable seats were brought in. All-in-all a great idea.
As Wright explains in the DVD commentary, having most of the movie filmed in the theater setting serves as a reminder that what we are seeing isn't real, it is a story. And it also serves as a metaphor for life, where people are often going about their daily lives pretending to be something they are not, thus really being in a theater.
Set in 1874 Imperial Russia, Jude Law is the serious aristocrat Karenin. Keira Knightley is his wife Anna Karenina . We perceive that he loves her, and certainly has strict core values which include marital fidelity. The problem arises when Anna needs to travel to help her brother with his domestic issue caused by infidelity with the governess, and on this trip Anna meets the young cavalry officer Aaron Taylor-Johnson Count Vronsky, who in spite of Anna's objections pursues her until she finally gives in, and that begins the end of her marriage and ultimately her life.
All the actors are very effective. I have been a Knightly fan ever since I first saw her in the first "Pirates" movie and she is superb here.
All the extras on the DVD are interesting and worthwhile. The one I enjoyed most, and is quite novel, is an 8-minute time-lapse. A camera was set up in a high far corner position when the set was being built, and it remained there through the entire filming of the movie. So, in 8 minutes you can see what all went on, the changes made in the floor or the props as scene requirements changed, actors coming in, scenes being filmed, and dead time when nothing was going on. I found that watching this time-lapse video right after watching the movie was a nice treat to complete my viewing experience. And serves as a final punctuation that it is fiction, a movie for entertainment.