«You can’t ask why about love.» ANNA KARENINA

About the movie… Director: Joe Wright Writers: Tom Stoppard (screenplay), Leo Tolstoy (novel) Genres: Drama, Romance Stars: Keira Knightley (Anna), Jude Law (Karenin), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Vronsky)

About the story background… The story set – Russian high society St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky. The time period – In late-19th-century

The protagonist… Anna Karenina is a woman who… – falls in love with a man that is not her husband – struggles with ethical and social consequences in the society – is flawed and eventually destroys herself – is also gentle, initially well-intentioned and very human

Major conflict… On the one hand – her passion for Vronsky and her desire for independence On the other hand – her marital duty, social convention, and maternal love on the other.

Climax… Anna makes a public appearance at the opera, forcing a confrontation between her desire to live life on her own terms and the hostile opinions of St. Petersburg society, which scorns and rejects her. This episode seals her fate as a social outcast and fallen woman.

Backstory… Levin’s search for meaning is rewarded by marriage to Kitty, stable family life, and an understanding of faith. Levin continues his new life as enlightened husband, father, and landowner.

Important actions to resolve the conflict… Anna abandons her husband and her son to follow her passion She commits suicide, unable to bear her lack of social freedom and the jealousy and suspicion arising from her unstable relationship with Vronsky.

The protagonist’s characteristic aspects leading to resolution… beautiful, passionate, and educated wife of Alexei Karenin, a cold and passionless government official. rich in complexity; she is guilty of desecrating her marriage and home, for instance, but she remains noble and admirable nonetheless. intelligent and literate, a reader of English novels and a writer of children’s books. elegant, always understated in her dress; her many years with Karenin show her capable of playing the role of cultivated, beautiful, society wife and hostess with great poise and grace.

Outside forces that contribute to the success or failure of the protagonist… Male-dominated society which makes it difficult to find autonomy and passion Levin’s search for meaning which is rewarded by marriage to Kitty, stable family life, and an understanding of faith unlike Anna’s controversial life

Lessons to be taken from this film…

Devices of fiction… THEMES – Social change in nineteenth-century Russia – the blessings of family life MOTIFS – The interior monologue; – adultery; SYMBOLS – Trains; – Vronsky’s racehorse; FORESHADOWING – A man dies at the train station when Anna first arrives, foreshadowing her own death at a train station years later – Vronsky’s actions cause the fall and death of his horse Frou-Frou, foreshadowing the later death of his beloved Anna

Archetypes… Unfaithful wife: Anna Karenina

Music, lighting, camera work… Theatre-style lighting A specific camera technique to give Anna Karenina a beautiful glow Wright: “I found that the film became more cinematic because of the theatrical ‘limitations’ I had placed upon myself.”

Favourite quotes «Count Vronsky: I love you! Anna Karenina: Why? Count Vronsky: You can't ask WHY about love!» «Anna Karenina: If you have any thought for me you will give me back my peace! Count Vronsky: There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest happiness.» «Alexie Karenin: We are bound together by god and this can only be broken by a crime against god!»

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