Like "Ivansxtc" 2002 (also based on a Leo Tolstoy novel, and featured Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde"), writer-director Bernard Rose optimizes classical music compositions with thoughtful imageries on screen vs. literal dialogs in his 1997 "Anna Karenina," produced by Warner Bros. and Icon Productions (Mel Gibson affiliated). Sophie Marceau is Anna. Take a close watch at her nuanced facial expressions towards the seemingly 'interminable' end - a remarkable four-minutes worth. Of course, director Rose has everything to do with the visually creative presentation. This version of "Anna Karenina" could be one of the more positive of endings. Yes, it ends not with the usual ending by the train tracks. Bernard Rose the screenwriter gives us enhanced perspectives - there is the parallel story of Levin and Kitty beyond the famous couple of Anna and Vronsky.
The story is told from the point of view of Alfred Molina's Levin - we hear his voice-over comments now and then throughout the film. Molina gave a remarkable subdued performance, a rather quiet one compared to his explosive, high energy manic characters in other films. Sean Bean is Vronsky. Mia Kirshner is Kitty. Danny Huston, who's the brilliant main focus in "Ivansxtc", plays Anna's brother, Stiva - friend to Levin and brother-in-law to Kitty. James Fox is the husband, Karenin, and briefly, Fiona Shaw as Lydia, influencing Karenin and becoming the 'unspoken threat' to Anna.
The film was authentically shot "entirely on location at St. Petersburg and Moscow." Several Tchaikovsky pieces featured were performed by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Georg Solti (Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 - Pathetique; Eugene Onegin; Violin Concerto in D Major, Op 35; Swan Lake).
I have seen the silent B/W version of director Edmund Goulding's 1927 "Love" with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, and director Clarence Brown's 1935 "Anna Karenina" with Garbo and Frederic March. Somehow I found there's more spark, passion and drama in director Rouben Mamoulian's 1933 "Queen Christina" with Garbo and Gilbert. Perhaps it's about the period of 1880's restrictive Russian society, a more emotionally successful portrayal of love affair is Martin Scorcese's 1993 "Age of Innocence" (Edith Wharton's story of late nineteenth century New York high society) - Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day Lewis (Countess Olenska and Newland Archer) certainly gave a titillating relationship on screen of forbidden romance. For sensitive depiction of angst, pangs and passion of marital infidelity, try Tony Goldwyn's directorial debut "A Walk on the Moon" (1999) with Diane Lane as Pearl the wife, Viggo Mortensen as Walker Jerome the blouse man, Liev Schreiber as Marty the husband, and an equally poignant performance from Anna Paquin as Alison the teenage daughter growing up during the summer of Woodstock.
If you appreciate Sophie Marceau and costume drama, she gave a refined portrayal of an 1800's governess with a secret/restrained emotion and passion, opposite Stephen Dillane (who's Leonard Woolf opposite Nicole Kidman in "The Hours" 2002) in writer-director William Nicholson's directorial debut "Firelight" (1997).
The story is told from the point of view of Alfred Molina's Levin - we hear his voice-over comments now and then throughout the film. Molina gave a remarkable subdued performance, a rather quiet one compared to his explosive, high energy manic characters in other films. Sean Bean is Vronsky. Mia Kirshner is Kitty. Danny Huston, who's the brilliant main focus in "Ivansxtc", plays Anna's brother, Stiva - friend to Levin and brother-in-law to Kitty. James Fox is the husband, Karenin, and briefly, Fiona Shaw as Lydia, influencing Karenin and becoming the 'unspoken threat' to Anna.
The film was authentically shot "entirely on location at St. Petersburg and Moscow." Several Tchaikovsky pieces featured were performed by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Georg Solti (Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 - Pathetique; Eugene Onegin; Violin Concerto in D Major, Op 35; Swan Lake).
I have seen the silent B/W version of director Edmund Goulding's 1927 "Love" with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, and director Clarence Brown's 1935 "Anna Karenina" with Garbo and Frederic March. Somehow I found there's more spark, passion and drama in director Rouben Mamoulian's 1933 "Queen Christina" with Garbo and Gilbert. Perhaps it's about the period of 1880's restrictive Russian society, a more emotionally successful portrayal of love affair is Martin Scorcese's 1993 "Age of Innocence" (Edith Wharton's story of late nineteenth century New York high society) - Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day Lewis (Countess Olenska and Newland Archer) certainly gave a titillating relationship on screen of forbidden romance. For sensitive depiction of angst, pangs and passion of marital infidelity, try Tony Goldwyn's directorial debut "A Walk on the Moon" (1999) with Diane Lane as Pearl the wife, Viggo Mortensen as Walker Jerome the blouse man, Liev Schreiber as Marty the husband, and an equally poignant performance from Anna Paquin as Alison the teenage daughter growing up during the summer of Woodstock.
If you appreciate Sophie Marceau and costume drama, she gave a refined portrayal of an 1800's governess with a secret/restrained emotion and passion, opposite Stephen Dillane (who's Leonard Woolf opposite Nicole Kidman in "The Hours" 2002) in writer-director William Nicholson's directorial debut "Firelight" (1997).