Why do you think Joe's idea of vronsky and anna is wrong?
I don’t understand why he had to make Vronsky a minor character, making him look like nothing more than a extra near Anna, which is confusing to me since he is one of the main characters in the novel. If you asked me to describe him with one word it would be brilliant - yes, he was brilliant & successful and passionate in the novel - unfortunately I saw none of these characteristic traits in the adaptation. Aaron’s Vronsky was quite comical and blank with a insensitive glare of Darth Vader - no, Anna wouldn’t follow this kind of man.
Anna according to Joe is a frivolous, quite shallow psychotic rich woman - description much more suitable for Emma Bovary or Hester Collyer at some point. In my eyes she is nothing like it. She is very noble and pensive and her love to Vronsky is lethal from the beginning - she considered it as something to be ashamed of, as something all together wrong. Not liberating, not life saving, not as a revenge to Karenin. She reached her absolute maximum in love and in life with Vronsky, loving selflessly, till self oblivion - and yet guiltily. Again - nothing like this was shown by Keira. Partly because Anna is one of the most complex literary heroines I have ever met - perhaps it is physically and mentally impossible for an actress to portrait the whole range of Anna’s feelings and emotions, to capture her individuality.
Another thing that really upsets me is how the clear (and very important) difference between Anna and Kitty as a woman opposed to a girl was ignored. Both Keira and Alicia seemed like young women of same age. It ruined the tragedy of Anna-Vronsky-Karenin in this novel - a tragedy of very mature people. Not age-wise, but mentally - very wealthy and experienced.
All of that is just my personal opinion and view. I loved the film dearly as an independent work of art; Joe is one of the finest and most restless directors of our time and I am a big admirer of his work. If I ever get a chance to meet him - oh I would love to have a deep, long conversation about this novel. I think we both have something to say about it.
