(ANOTHER SPECIAL MENTION FOR MATTHEW MACFADYEN)
Casting wise, Knightly is wonderful as Karenina. She continues to play the pouty, dainty woman but from film to film, the women that she plays grow in strength, and even (if you permit me the pleasure), she has a slight tinge of Greta Garbo (who herself played Karenina) about herself where she can illustrate everything she is thinking through her eyes and her mouth – rather than having to say everything. She is the perfect example of fetishistic scopophilia, as theorised by Laura Mulvey. Parts of Knightly’s face becomes so entranced with emotions, that the audience concentrates solely on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks and they represent the rest of her body. Jude Law plays an interesting role within the film because we are so busy concentrating on the growing relationship of Anna and Vronsky, that we don’t really take the time to notice the angst and fire growing within her husband, Alexei. He tries, at first to forgive her, her misgivings but as she continues to pull away, he continues to fight until the end and Law is a constant reminder of this throughout the film.
The reminder of the cast is filled with recognisable faces (many of whom fill me with a smile whenever I see them), those we have become accustomed to the period drama including Ruth Wilson, Michelle Dockery, Olivia Williams and Matthew Macfadyen (who plays Oblonsky, Anna’s brother with such comic conviction, it’s a welcome return to the big screen).
Here comes the grouch part of my review – the one major casting issue I had was Aaron Johnson as Count Vronsky. Bearing in mind that he had to play the love rival to the older looking Law, Johnson looks like he has just come away from the set of Skins, with a very bad go at trying to grow facial hair. Usually, I am a big fan of him, rewatching Nowhere Boy and Kick Ass with excitement but in this film, he felt like a bad choice. It just seems like a bigger, more mature actor was needed for the role where he was needing to be sensual, but instead he just felt like a bad schoolboy teasing the girls around him. Furthermore, it felt a bit uncomfortable watching Johnson and Knightly kiss, not for their age gap but for the time they have spent in the eyes of the audience (the latter being around much longer) and therefore, I felt this lost some of the capacity for drama and scandal, which it could have otherwise gained with another actor.
READ MORE: http://www.frontrowreviews.co.uk/reviews/anna-karenina-review/18704
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