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Anna Karenina
2012
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Anna Karenina
Positive Reviews
113
Negative reviews
25
Average Rating
3.3
/5
romantic
beautiful
gorgeous
unique
overwrought
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Positive
Negative
3.2
Theres no deadlier sort of movie than a stodgy literary adaptation. Thankfully, Joe Wright seems incapable of making one.
Av Club
3.2
In making the radical artistic choice to tell the story as if it were being enacted by players on a stage, Wright falls passionately in love with his ..
EW
3.1
She doesnt seem to realize the audience is right there and paying close attention.
Rogerebert
1.5
Further down the line, Kitty and Levin discover a love thats built of stronger, more hard wearing stuff.
Variety
3.8
Anna Karenina is a beautiful, unique and ambitious vision that is crowned by some spectacular performances with Keira Knightley and Jude Law really st ..
We Got This Covered
2.0
It never feels like were watching people pressed on by the burdens of society and history, just extravagantly costumed puppets navigating Wrights colo ..
Time Out
3.0
Knightley, resplendent in exaggerated furs and art directed lace veils, has never looked more like an honest to goodness movie star.
Time Out
3.1
Overall Criterions Bruce Lee set is as wonderful as youve heard, boasting definitive restorations and enough supplements for at least two semesters wo ..
5.0
Wrights Anna Karenina sings, dances and finally soars, even as its legendary heroine plunges to her most self destructive depths.
4.5
The weight of its intellectual distancing device presses much of the life and feeling out of Joe Wrights and Tom Stoppards adventurous adaptation of T ..
The Hollywood Reporter
2.5
Wright and Stoppards version doesnt discard Levin altogether, but it poorly twines the stories of twin protagonists Anna and Levin, and Gleesons Levin ..
4.1
Wrights concept is visually and intellectually stimulating once engaged, an esoteric exercise that explores the intersection of literature, theater an ..
Paste Magazine
3.0
Its hard to watch Wrights version without wondering what might have been, if only Knightley had a worthier scene partner than Aaron Taylor Johnson.
Telegraph
4.0
Even on the rare occasions it falters, you have to applaud the ambition.
Telegraph
2.5
In the end Anna Karenina lets you down visually stunning, emotionally overwrought, beautifully acted, but not quite right.
1.3
If you cant make an audience care about Anna Karenina in a movie called Anna Karenina, you havent really made Anna Karenina.
San Francisco Chronicle
4.0
If it doesnt ultimately engage your heart as it might, Anna Karenina is period drama at its most exciting, intoxicating and modern. Spellbinding.
2.8
Anna Karenina is a massive, boldly imagined work, the rare novel adaptation thats purely, thrillingly cinematic.
Cinema Blend
3.0
Anna is daring enough to seduce us, if ultimately incapable of breaking our hearts.
Ny Daily News
3.5
Wrights rendition of Anna Karenina is indeed flawed but the rich performances, succinct screenwriting, and strong direction make it a re interpretatio ..
Screen Rant
3.8
Visually, this is fascinating, a fresh and counterintuitive take on the old problem of adapting a classic book dont open it up so much as close it dow ..
The Globe And Mail
3.1
The movies still gorgeous, but Annas great tragedy, condensed and accelerated and enacted underneath the visible ropes and pullies of the stage, never ..
Philly
3.8
Its hard not to admire Wrights bold approach to Anna Kareninas story of longing and jealousy and societal condemnation.
Philly
4.0
Before beginning her affair with Vronsky, Anna is told by a worldly countess to follow her erotic impulses: Id rather end up wishing I hadnt than wish ..
Spirituality And Practice
2.5
Visually stunning but emotionally vapid...a one trick pony that reduces the tragic dimension of its source to an ornate soap operatic bauble.
One Guys Opinion
1.5
Confoundingly good performances gradually win the movie from Wrights puerile conceit, giving us an Anna Karenina if not for the ages, than at least fo ..
Village Voice
3.8
A perfect, and dare one say it, playful vehicle for Keira Knightley, who always brings a chest heaving sexuality to such period pieces...
Rogers Movie Nation
3.8
The movie also doesnt feel rushed, successfully capturing more of the novels secondary stories into its fabric.
ReelViews
2.5
Masterminding a unique creative challenge with Leo Tolstoys celebrated novel, Anna Karenina, Wright imagines another lush world of stunning cinematogr ..
Blu Ray
1.5
Without Tolsoys profound interior narration, Anna Karenina is just a soap opera, and for some reason director Joe Wright has decided to compound this ..
Chicago Reader
3.8
The novel features one of the most famous endings in history, and Anna Karenina has a sense of propulsion that matches the instrument of that tragedy.
Mark Reviews Movies
2.8
It speaks volumes that Anna Kareninas set up is far more engaging than its tragic melodrama, which fails to engage emotionally.
3.1
He conveys a quiet stillness that comes off alternately as measured stoicism and intransigence.
Usa Today
3.0
Theres much to love, and much to loathe about Joe Wrights new adaptation of Anna Karenina.
The Times
3.8
A clever and gorgeous looking adaptation of the great novel which intricately combines theater and cinema.
Lariat
1.5
Aaron Taylor Johnson is okay as the boy toy, but doesnt create enough of an alluring persona to make me believe Anna would fall for him.
Screen It
4.4
This story has been filmed many times, but never with this kind of erotic charge. Knightley is glorious. My advice is to let Wrights Anna Karenina wor ..
Rolling Stone
4.5
Again and again, Anna is bereft, isolated, frightened. That this is more a function of her world than her is a point left to fester: she believes its ..
Pop Matters
5.0
A thoroughly engaging, powerfully emotional period drama with a superb script and a terrific central performance from Keira Knightley.
View London
3.8
BOTTOM LINE This daringly stylized adaptation is filled with tricky symbolism but still satisfies the requirements of a lush looking, well acted perio ..
News Day
4.4
Director Joe Wright pulls off an impressive feat, taking the iconic, timeless work and making it his own.
News Day
2.2
Often deliberately arch and formal, the performers have been instructed to emphasize the overwrought theatricality of Annas disapproving social set. W ..
Cs Monitor
3.8
As cleverly adapted by Tom Stoppard, this is an Anna Karenina thats pretty much guaranteed to polarize audiences.
New York Post
4.5
Joe Wrights frenetic and daringly stagy adaptation unleashes the passions of Tolstoys novel with a delicious abandon.
Film Journal International ..
3.5
Knightley and Law are what salvage Wrights interesting stab at something different, taking an interesting, if flawed, experiment and turning it into s ..
Az Central
3.1
The new film staggers under such a weight of self conscious visual style that the story never connects with a viewers emotions.
Boston
2.0
Wrights staged version tries desperately to gain ones attention (which it does) and engage ones affection (which it doesnt).
Smh
5.0
Im assuming the film certainly does that everyone knows that her affair with the rather candy box Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor Johnson) doesnt end well ..
Mountain X
1.5
It doesnt help that her paramour, Count Vronsky, is played by a vapid Aaron Taylor Johnson in bottle blond hair and sparkly teeth.
Npr
3.1
Wondrous as all this artifice is, its also a huge distraction. The self consciousness of the structure keeps us at arms length emotionally.
Star Tribune
4.5
There is no pretense that Wright is giving us a realistic depiction of late 19th century Russia, and in the process, he isnt merely creating a look th ..
2.5
Anna Karenina the film isnt entirely bad, just as Anna Karenina the woman isnt entirely unjustified in her actions.
Toronto Star
2.5
Playwright Stoppard and director Wright make a valiant but unsuccessful effort to modernize the classic, resulting in film that lacks emotional power ..
Emanuellevy
4.5
Wrights movie is a dazzling affair, a highly stylised treatment of a realistic novel, superbly designed by Sarah Greenwood and edited by Melanie Ann O ..
Guardian
1.5
Despite its creativity and originality, this Anna Karenina fails to pack the emotional wallop of previous film adaptations starring Greta Garbo and Vi ..
Reel Talk Reviews
4.5
A furiously ambitious literary adaptation, the best of Wright and Knightleys careers, that tries to make us feel the intense sexuality and terror and ..
Salon
3.0
Fans of lush photography (the great Seamus McGarvey did the honours) and gorgeous, old fashioned theatrical trickery will have a nice time.
Flim List
3.5
Like its central character, then, this is beautiful and brave even if it fails to fully realise its potential.
Eye For Film
4.5
Their passion filled love affair is portrayed like a beautiful painting.
3.0
Intellectual, overwrought and highly stylized, its a superficial spectacle, providing a feast for the eyes but starvation for the soul.
Susang Ranger
2.5
The cast is good (especially Mr. Law) and theres plenty to look at, from lavish balls to windmills in the snow.
Observer
4.4
Yet the stage is never acknowledged by the actors because to them, it doesnt exist.
Movies
1.5
The metaphorical force of this conceit insisting on the artifice of the social world that frowns on rapture is not hard to grasp, but its frailty unse ..
New Yorker
3.0
Hats off to the filmmakers for having the courage to try something new. It may not be anybodys favourite Anna Karenina but its certainly distinctive.
Express
4.0
Will Kitty learn from her mistakes Will she mature enough to be worthy of Levins love and will he be gracious enough to forgive His broken heart and h ..
Express
4.0
The film may not be the most moving version of the story, but it has more forward momentum than any previous adaptation.
The Irish Times
2.0
The leading man preens and puffs himself up but never gives us reason to empathize with him.
Blogs Indie Wire
0.5
Knightley and Taylor Johnson are so passionless they might was well be animatronic. The theatrical conceit is more stunt than inspiration, the film co ..
Blogs Indie Wire
2.0
Rather than involve us in the story Wrights grandiose concept keeps it at arms length, forever highlighting the smoke, mirrors and meticulous stage ma ..
Total Film
4.0
We have expectations of what to expect from period romances. Anna Karenina defies them. Masterpiece Theater it is not.
Hollywood
2.0
The outcome is to make this great realist novel wholly artificial, relentlessly stagey in the worst sense.
Standard
3.5
Law is terrific (and almost unrecognizable) as Annas cuckolded husband, Karenin.
Tony Medley
3.8
This guy is consistently sharp with his reviews and he clearly loves film.
Coles Mithey
2.8
Anna Karenina, lush as it is, fails to strike a fully human chord.
Detroit News
2.8
Like an overly long perfume commercial, Anna Karenina is as stylishly extravagant as it is dull and pretentious.
2.5
But theres a peril that, in chasing a fresh concept, a director will come up with something foolhardy (like doing Macbeth on the starship Enterprise). ..
Groucho Reviews
3.8
... we have a lot to look forward to from in years to come, and heres hoping audiences get lost in this lovely, painful romantic fever dream.
Hit Fix
2.5
Wright (Atonement, Hanna) doesnt do a straight telling of the tale.
Aisle Seat
3.1
After all, perfect films are all alike; every imperfect one is imperfect in its own way.
Nj
4.5
Law, who has been made to look clerical and plain, makes a sturdy Karenin, a man trying to control a situation thats spiraling toward chaos.
Movie Habit
3.8
Stoppard and Wright have demonstrated that Annas saga has lost none of its power.
Oregon Live
4.5
A bold and borderline insane adaptation that anoints Joe Wright as a modern filmmaker who reveres the old guard
Boxoffice Magazine
3.8
However, Wright has done an admirable job of investing this tale thats more than a century old with a modern sensibility that augments rather than sac ..
Movies Tv Guide
1.5
Trying to one up Tolstoy was always going to be a bad idea, though I wouldnt object to seeing a Bond movie, or Les Miserables, staged in the same way.
The Age
3.0
Heavily flawed and unapologetically indulgent, strong performances from its all star cast (Macfayden, Law and the ever impressive Domhnall Gleeson all ..
Cine Vue
3.5
Its an audacious mashup that Baz Luhrmann would approve, lending freshness to Tolstoys too often told tale.
Tamp A Bay
3.5
Its fabulously choreographed, handsomely designed and so very clever.
Nz Herald
3.1
Yet the feelings dont shout as loud as the characters in a film thats closer to Cary Fukunagas decent Jane Eyre than Andrea Arnolds breathless adaptat ..
Red Eye Chicago
4.0
There is a freshness and daring to Anna Karenina, which is something that probably hasnt been said in a good 100 years.
Stl Today
3.8
Even more than most versions of Anna Karenina, this chamber piece is heated by two combustible characters, not by the winds of war and peace.
Stl Today
3.8
Joe Wrights sweeping, dance of love adaptation of Anna Karenina is one of the most inventive, visually lush films of the year.
Cleve Land
4.5
Tom Stoppards screenplay adaptation has more than enough lines to make a slam poetry audience go unh!
Screen Crush
4.0
Tolstoys iconic novel may have been filmed several times, but youve never seen a version like this
Contact Music
4.4
Hes like Charles Bovary: Theres nothing really wrong with him other than hes a little dull.
Ar Kansas Online
5.0
So good as a young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, here the kid doesnt have a chance.
Larsen On Film
4.5
A sweepingly romantic film, one that earns its tragic climax without stinting on the richness of the source material.
Hollywood And Fine
3.0
Suffers from that most appealing and rarest of flaws: too much ambition.
Antagony & Ecstasy
3.1
Anna Karenina is a boldly constructed and beautiful film that very nearly collapses because the story becomes a muddled mess and the central character ..
4.4
What Tolstoy continues to teach us, and what Wright captures so beautifully in his movie, is how love and desire force one to act in ways others canno ..
Js Online
1.5
The look is gorgeous, of course, but seldom has so much aestheticization served so much heartlessness.
Film Comment
2.5
Its a shame that craftsmanship wasnt put to more compelling and convincing effect by the director.
Sbs
3.0
Director Joe Wrights undeniably fresh approach helps smooth the wrinkles in a film that suffers from uneven storytelling.
No La
3.0
This romantic comedy of prickly passions and rampant dysfunction is like a fusion machine that constantly threatens to blow up while its seeking some ..
Wsj
3.8
It would be unfair to, ahem, throw the whole movie under the train because of one casting error and a few ill advised directorial choices.
Clclt
2.0
I can excuse this for community theater actors who cant quite nail an accent.
Fat Guys At The Movies
0.5
So can we somehow make a bargain with the film world: no more Anna Kareninas Youre making idiots of yourselves.
New Republic
3.1
Its a half success a baldly conceptual response to the Leo Tolstoy novel, with a heavy theatrical framework placed around the narrative of girl meets ..
Articles Chicago Tribune
4.5
All this is not to say that Wrights latest version isnt meritorious, as its definitely the finest staged version thus committed to film.
Ion Cinema
3.5
A beautiful production and strong performances by Law and Knightley
Review Express
3.8
Director Joe Wright and his favorite star, Kiera Knightley have produced a ravishing, highly theatrical version of Leo Tolstoys classic.
Movie Mom
4.4
A whirlwind affair composed of dazzling set pieces and a driving narrative.
Cinema Sight
3.0
Joe Wrights adaptation of Leo Tolstoys masterpiece is a wonderfully theatrical affair.
Fan The Fire Magazine
4.5
Knightley embodies Anna as a girlish woman who has never felt erotic love; once smitten, she is raised to heavenly ecstasy before tumbling into the ab ..
Entertainment Time
2.8
...dazzling early on, but as the film reaches the mid point, the highly stylized staging gimmick begins to wan. Still, like Cloud Atlas early this yea ..
Daily Film Fix
4.5
Obviously, anyone would go, gosh, golly thats an amazing character.
3.1
Though it distracts from the realism that makes the novel so immersive, the artificiality does highlight the most genuine aspect of the movie the perf ..
Boston Phoenix
3.2
Its far from a perfect film, but Anna Karenina should be praised for its attempt to reinvent the wheel of stuffy costume clad Masterpiece Theater for ..
Reel Talk Online
1.5
Its as if Wright cant let a scene go without grabbing attention for his own direction.
Spectator
4.5
This is an extraordinary film, a visual treat and an emotional rollercoaster that will keep you gripped all the way through even if you are familiar w ..
Sky
4.5
Fans of Wrights Pride & Prejudice may not be quite as enthralled with this production, but there is no denying: Anna Karenina is a lavish and satisfyi ..
Kaplan Vs Kaplan
3.1
Its nearly flawless craft is done at the expense of the story rather than in service of it, and that I think is its fatal mistake.
The Dispatch (Lexington, N ..
2.5
Solid visual moments arent enough to sustain an audience, and Joe Wrights style isnt enough to salvage gaping wounds in the story.
Film.com
3.5
A dazzling looking, amazingly adaptable theater transforms into. . . a busy eyeful of sturm und drang, where the gentler love story of Kitty and Levin ..
Film Forward
3.0
Worth it for the glitz and Wrights brave film within the theatre idea.
Little White Lies
4.0
However, the period drama and exquisite costume beautifully compliment the entertaining blend of imagination, frank wit and highbrow theatrics deliver ..
Hey U Guys
1.0
... the signal achievement of this version of Anna Karenina is that it manages to use a world literary classic as the platform for nothing less than t ..
MSN Movies
3.3
Anna Karenina isnt a filmed stage production in any way it lives within this theoretical theater while not being confined to it.
Movie Line
3.0
One has to applaud Joe Wrights interpretation of Anna Karenina which is a play on the Shakespeare adage, All the worlds a stage, And all the men and w ..
Patrick Nabarro
1.5
Anna Karenina is a big, expensive bauble: pristine, polished and admirable, but structurally brittle and completely hollow.
Liver Pool Echo
4.0
Knightley has a rare gift for making viewers willing to follow her characters even as they make catastrophically stupid decisions.
Kc Active
3.5
Between the screenplay by playwright Tom Stoppard and the direction of Joe Wright, Anna Karenina is a stylistically fascinating film.
The Mercury
3.5
An updated, streamlined version of the Tolstoy classic will appeal to a younger demographic while the oldsters will stick to reading the book.
Monsters And Critics
4.5
At times, the theater as life concept creates too much emotional distance from the characters, but the actors give such human, sympathetic performance ..
Bust
3.8
Anna Karenina plays like the ultimate CliffsNotes, which is both testament to Stoppards exceptional adaptation and abridgement of Tolstoys novel and a ..
Reel Times: Reflections on ..
4.5
Anna Karenina is one of those important, repeatedly adapted stories that lets be honest todays average moviegoer doesnt really want to get within a mi ..
7 Dvt
4.5
This isnt an Anna Karenina that will leave you sobbing, but thanks to virtuosic camerawork, sumptuous costumes and stunning designs, Joe Wrights film ..
Movie Talk
1.9
(Director Joe) Wrights cinematic choices, unfortunately, keep viewers at arms length instead of drawing them into the story.
Jc Online
4.5
Their burning desire for one another is far less convincing than societys disdain for Annas choice.
Eugene Weekly
2.0
Sports some good performances and is nice to look at at times, but its ultimately both spectacularly ill conceived and deathly boring.
Technology Tell
4.5
Daring staging and a great story make this adaptation the movie to beat this Oscar season.
Patheos
2.5
When Anna finally leaves her husband (Jude Law), shes shocked to find shes shunned by society.
3.2
One of those lovely, nomination gleaning period pieces that some simply adore. Its got a playful and unique style to it that transcends the charge of ..
ScreenAnarchy
3.5
a visually unique story world, bold and beautiful, and dramatically fused with passion. Yet its also a limited space that remains prisoner to its self ..
Screen Wize
2.0
The conceptual gimmickry eclipses everything else, including a typically sharp script from Tom Stoppard and the earnest efforts of well dressed Brits ..
Time Out Chicago
3.1
I admire the films ambition, but I cant fully recommend it. Sorry. I need some characters that I can care about. But its almost worth seeing for the f ..
Film Geek Central
3.0
There have been countless film and tv versions of Russian author Leo Tolstoys classic high society love story. But none have been captured so beautifu ..
UTV
4.2
Breaking down the walls literally Wright has served up a silver screen stunner. Cue the standing ovation.
2.5
Stoppards touches serve only to pull the viewer away from the story and act as a distraction.
Groups Google
4.0
Its easy to conclude that this Anna Karenina is a superficial portrait of a superficial society, but that would be to dismiss how emotionally powerful ..
2.7
The film does not do even minimal justice to the themes informing the tragedy.
3.8
Its far from perfect, maybe even deeply flawed, but I cant help but recommend Anna Karenina simply as utterly satisfying eye candy.
Washingtonian
See Where to Watch
Anna Karenina