The staging was innovative. The costumes were exquisite. The rest of it was tedious. When Anna makes her final self indulgent move at the train station, a woman sitting behind me in the theater whispered, "Thank, God." I had to agree with her.
Having never read Tolstoy's novel, I can only surmise that it was impossible to translate to a movie, or that the innovative staging did not support such a complex story line. Most of the time I had no idea who the background characters were or what their relationship was to the main characters. This made me more appreciative of Martin Scorcese's "Age of Innocence," which provided a background narrative (by Joanne Woodward) to explain the cultural mores of the time.
The critics may love the risk the director took, and Tolstoy scholars may be reveling in this offering, but I'd have to say the struggle to make this work was too demanding for me.
Having never read Tolstoy's novel, I can only surmise that it was impossible to translate to a movie, or that the innovative staging did not support such a complex story line. Most of the time I had no idea who the background characters were or what their relationship was to the main characters. This made me more appreciative of Martin Scorcese's "Age of Innocence," which provided a background narrative (by Joanne Woodward) to explain the cultural mores of the time.
The critics may love the risk the director took, and Tolstoy scholars may be reveling in this offering, but I'd have to say the struggle to make this work was too demanding for me.
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