Anna Karenina | Anna dances with Vronsky

Turn on captions for subtitles & my silly opinions!

A little comparison of five different scenes from five different versions of Anna Karenina. None are perfect, but some are definitely better than others. Which one do you think did the famous waltz scene best? My favorite is the 2017 version—I think it's the most romantic and most historically compelling. (My least favorites are the 1948 and the 2012 ones, for personal reasons more than anything else.)

0:00-0:05 Introduction
0:05-4:55 Anna Karenina (1948)
4:55-9:25 Anna Karenina (1997)
9:25-15:07 Anna Karenina (2012)
15:07-17:39 Anna Karenina (2017)

For those curious, here are the relevant excerpts from the scene as presented in the book:

'. . . [Kitty] saw in [Anna] the signs of that excitement of success she knew so well in herself; she saw that she was intoxicated with the delighted admiration she was exciting. She knew that feeling and knew its signs, and saw them in Anna; saw the quivering, flashing light in her eyes, and the smile of happiness and excitement unconsciously playing on her lips, and the deliberate grace, precision, and lightness of her movements. . . .

“No, it’s not the admiration of the crowd has intoxicated her, but the adoration of one. And that one? can it be he?” Every time he spoke to Anna the joyous light flashed into her eyes, and the smile of happiness curved her red lips. She seemed to make an effort to control herself, to try not to show these signs of delight, but they came out on her face of themselves. “But what of him?” Kitty looked at him and was filled with terror. What was pictured so clearly to Kitty in the mirror of Anna’s face she saw in him. What had become of his always self-possessed resolute manner, and the carelessly serene expression of his face? Now every time he turned to her, he bent his head, as though he would have fallen at her feet, and in his eyes there was nothing but humble submission and dread. “I would not offend you,” his eyes seemed every time to be saying, “but I want to save myself, and I don’t know how.” On his face was a look such as Kitty had never seen before. . . .

She saw that they felt themselves alone in that crowded room. . . .

Anna smiled, and her smile was reflected by him. She grew thoughtful, and he became serious. Some supernatural force drew Kitty’s eyes to Anna’s face. She was fascinating in her simple black dress, fascinating were her round arms with their bracelets, fascinating was her firm neck with its thread of pearls, fascinating the straying curls of her loose hair, fascinating the graceful, light movements of her little feet and hands, fascinating was that lovely face in its eagerness, but there was something terrible and cruel in her fascination. . . .

Anna did not mean to stay to supper, but the master of the house began to press her to do so.
“Nonsense, Anna Arkadyevna,” said Korsunsky, drawing her bare arm under the sleeve of his dress coat, “I’ve such an idea for a cotillion! Un bijou!”
And he moved gradually on, trying to draw her along with him. Their host smiled approvingly.
“No, I am not going to stay,” answered Anna, smiling, but in spite of her smile, both Korsunsky and the master of the house saw from her resolute tone that she would not stay.
“No; why, as it is, I have danced more at your ball in Moscow than I have all the winter in Petersburg,” said Anna, looking round at Vronsky, who stood near her. “I must rest a little before my journey.”
“Are you certainly going tomorrow then?” asked Vronsky.
“Yes, I suppose so,” answered Anna, as it were wondering at the boldness of his question; but the irrepressible, quivering brilliance of her eyes and her smile set him on fire as she said it.'

Made in June of 2022 :)

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