MovieChat Forums > Anna Karenina (2012) Discussion > I Am Surprised That...

I Am Surprised That...

posted 5 years ago by angelosdaughter (158)
3 replies | jump to latest

....with the self-centered, suspicious witch that Anna was and how annoying Kiera Knightly is in just about every role she plays, that Vronsky didn't beat her to the punch and throw himself under the train.He was free to marry, but her flight from her marriage and unashamed flaunting of her broken marriage vows (affairs were tolerated as long as they were conducted discreetly according the the rules of aristocratic society, even though virtuous wives like Dolly and Kitty were the ideal), made her ability to remarry even after the divorce impossible, so she saw his every interaction even with women he had known his entire life with suspicion followed by wild accusations and arguments.
Vronsky loved Anna, and didn't want anyone else, but he did have other interests and responsibilities. She had callously left all of her responsibilities behind and centered her whole life and voracious romantic love around him. That type of love is more a burden than a pleasure.
Anna is an annoying character, and Knightly with that horrible grimace makes her even more annoying.

[–] VictorVictoria (40) 5 years ago

Who was better, Greta Garbo or Vivien Leigh.

[–] angelosdaughter (158) 5 years ago

I liked Vivien Leigh in the role.
I have read the novel, but the selfish self-centered Anna, who chooses a man over a son she claims to love and even her love child with Vronsky whom she abandons to her husband who comes to love little Anya more than she ever did and ends up raising, elicits no sympathy.
She created her own hell. Yes, Vronsky was equally at fault, but she was married and her child, if not her seemingly emotionally distant, but decent husband, should have been her priority, to say nothing of consequences to her as she discovered when she flaunted herself at the opera after leaving Kerenin to live openly with Vronsky and was snubbed publicly. She should have continued to rebuff Vronsky's importunings, as she did in the beginning.
Vronsky had nothing to lose. Indeed his success in seducing Anna could only burnish his reputation with his regiment. He, too, apparently cared nothing for the child he sired.
The one good thing about the 2012 film is the final scene of Serhoza and Anya in the flowery field. with the boy hugging his little sister, and their father, Kerenin reading nearby, a scene of loving tranquility.

The Russians made a film (I think it might still be on YouTube) called in English,' Vronsky's Story' telling it from his point of view. It has subtitles, and is really good. The lead actors are married in reality.

[–] rudeboymurray (3258) 4 years ago

I like both earlier films and while I think Garbo’s movie is slightly stronger (Basil Rathbone is the definitive Karenin), I think Leigh gave the better performance as Anna.