I'm trying to avoid reading the novel (because I hate Tolstoy's philosophy, as seen in Kreutzer Sonata, Ivan Ilyich, etc.). Is this film accurate enough to gain any insight about the text? How accurate are the plot and characterizations?
shareIt's not a very good adaption, a lot of major plot points are missing and have been reduced.
Maybe watch some of the other Anna Karenina adaptions?
As the other person kind of mentioned, this is a pretty superficial adaption. It doesn't go too deep into the text and leaves quite a bit out (as could be expected, the book is pretty dense and the movie can only be so long).
However, I'd say the characterizations are pretty accurate, and the plot isn't changed a whole lot, it's just missing pieces.
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I am Jack's broken heart
As a major fan of the book I have avoided this adaptation until now. But I watched it and quite liked it.
I would always recommend that you read the book. And then read it again. I understand the frustration with Tolstoy's philosophy, his views on the peasants etc. but you have to expose yourself to them so that you can work around them. Tolstoy's ability to paint a picture of human relations in a few strokes is unmatched.
The reason I enjoyed this movie is that it brought moments from the book alive in exactly the way I had pictured them. I don't know how this experience would be for someone not intimately acquainted with the book; for all I know it could have been disjointed. But many scenes were perfectly crafted and I would happily watch again.
By this time I have gotten around to reading the novel. Nabokov's commentaries convinced me to do so. Although there are things about Tolstoy I criticize, I still think that this is something essential to read for its literary and philosophic significance. In fact, I was writing a novel of my own at the time and I made the characters discuss Anna.
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