Overrated and overhyped

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I must agree with 'iliawarlock' on Samoylova's performance - but even though this is undoubtedly the weakest link, the film doesn't hold on many stronger points. Samoylova, who is best suited to play Soviet peasant or worker, is only the emanation of the overall psychological flatness, ignorance and self-content, characteristic of many destroyer-of-classic-texts communist era films. Plisetskaya is brilliant, and Lanovoy is also delightful. An interesting fact is that, before a screening which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, the still magnificent Vasiliy Lanovoy commented that his character Vronsky was incapable of the great love which Karenina had the gift for. From his performance, I got quite the opposite impression of a highly sensitive and devoted Vronsky - but thats the greatness of a complex text. Too bad we cannot witness a complex (if any) psychological interaction with Karenina in this dramatization.

Visually this movie is a black sheep among the other Soviet movies: it's shot absolutely astoundingly for a Soviet movie! Lighting and scenery are astonishingly crafted, wide-angle objectives, cranes and dollies are artfully used throughout the film making it look, despite of the poorly emulsified film (though not that bad for those times), like a highest-budget Hollywood movie. Photography direction and editing are also up to the highest notch! Direction and acting are great, no reason to praise anyone higher than the others (though my favourite is Nikolai Gritsenko as Alexander Alexandrovich Karenin). Truly a piece of a pure cinema art, absolutely creative, original and rich. Watch with pleasure.

Alexander Zarkhy's "Anna Karenina" is the best Karenina in the world. May be it's even better then Leo Tolstoy's romance :)) I've seen a lot of films on this romance, but no one of them, IMHO, compares to this one.Anyway, Tatyana Samoylova is great actress, and Anna's meeting with her son Serezha is one of the most touching and heartbreaking cinema episode I've ever seen.Tatyana Evgenyevna, ya ochen' Vas lublu :))

This movie was done well. The filming was beautiful and Tolstoy's novel (in so far as it is possible) was presented in a good light. The only spot that marred an otherwise-good film was the performance of the leading actress, Samoilova, playing Anna Karenina herself. So inept, clumsy,, irritatingly false and unconvincing was her performance that my single greatest sentiment throughout the film was: "Come on! Throw yourself on the train-tracks and get it over with!" Sadly, for over two hours my prayers went unanswered. A positive note, however, was struck by the stunning performance of the former legendary ballerina, Maya Plisetskaya in her role as the social lioness, Princess Betsy Tverskaya. Vasilij Lanovoj (memorable as Shervinsky, in 'Dni Turbinykh) was also a pleasure to watch as he made the most out of the relatively small role of Vronsky. In short: This would be a higher-than-average film, but for the tragically poor performance of the single actress that was under particular obligation to play well.