Anna Karenina (2012)

Whilst eavesdropping on Levin's marriage
proposal this man has a snotty moment

This highly stylized allegorical study of Tolstoy's novel merely hides the cheapness of the production. I would have preferred a more conventional treatment of the story. There are many scenes where the setting becomes studio bound and many too where it is so dark you cannot see detail. I don't think they could afford much for this film, maybe all the money is consumed by the actors leaving little for the rest of it. The seventies BBC TV production leaves this for dead. So much of it too was stage played that  when it came to the emotionally charged scenes I was left pretty dry (though not high), In one scene they even have an actor blow his nose, I suppose to indicate that it is a sad part. Levin was depicted as a bit of a buffoon going around here and everywhere whereas he is supposed to be a deeply complex character. I suppose this is the weakness of the standard two hour movie format. As a director you have to decide what story you are going to tell. If there is too much detail in the story you just glean out the one aspect of it which will fit in the format. In this case as is usually, it's the love interest. Levin with all his philosophical interests didn't stand a chance. He gets little time, after all they have to sell the film, and sex sells. To do the book justice you'd have to make two films, one dealing with the tormented life of Anna and another of Levin. The early Greta Garbo film version took the road of Anna's life and pretty much ignored the rest of the story and it worked well. In that one the story is intelligible from scene to scene and does not suffer the continuity problems of this one. This was a pretty ghastly experiment not bound to please many.