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Anna Karenina directed by Julien Duvivier is an English adaption of Tolstoy's realist novel. The themes in his novel are represented through the use of letters and quotes throughout the film. The opening scene is a shot of a book with the opening sentences of the novel. The intertextuality of the novel within the film helps us make a connection with the novel itself and the film. The shot of the book makes it as if we are reading the story as we watch the plot unfold.
Anna Karenina realist novel by Leo Tolstoy, tells the story of Anna who falls in love with Alexei Vronsky. The novel portrays the double standards of adultery in an 1870 Russian society. The themes revolve around patriarchal values, duty to one's country and family, social approval, death, and adultery. The novel follows Anna's affair and her spiral towards depression and suicide after being shamed by society. The novel shows the double standards of adultery. Anna's brother opens up the novel with Anna traveling to Moscow to repair her brothers relationship due to his own adulterous affairs. His wife forgives him and they continue on with their lives as if nothing has happened. Women in 1870s Russian society had an obligation to their marriage. In Anna's case her affair is followed by constant reminders by society and her husband Alexei Karenin. Alexia Karenin is more concerned about their appearance in society. Mr. Karenin is a influential government official who spends his days solving Russia's political issues and pays no attention to his wife. Anna soon begins an affair with Vronsky.
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The use of letters and close ups of telegrams allow the viewer to read and know what will happen in the film. The physical representation of letters are a way of showing the novels adaption from page to screen. The telegrams move the plot along as they announce the arrival of Anna in Moscow when she visits her brother and sister-in-law. Telegrams in the film announce traveling. Towards the middle of the film Alexei Karenin receives a telegram from Anna telling him she is dying and begs his forgiveness. This use of the telegram helps the viewer understand where in the story we are and what has happened to Anna. Their is also a scene where a farmer reads about Alexei Vronsky's accident in the newspaper. It is as if the farmer is reading the novel to us, it also shows how public their lives are. Duvivier uses a quote to end the film after Anna's death and gives Anna a monologue to portray the interior monologues of Tolstoy's novel.
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Duvivier uses foreshadowing techniques to hint at Anna's death by train. Trains in the film, like in the novel, are a symbol of traveling and change. There is a dark quality to trains which is seen when Anna meets Vronsky and soon after a man is run over by a train. This scene foreshadows the dark outcome of Anna's love affair. It is an omen of what is to come. Anna goes through various train rides to escape the constant criticism of high class Russian society. Though she travels she cannot run away from her herself and her problems. This is hinted at in the ending scene as she steps off the train and begins her monologue. Her monologue allows us to hear and see what she is thinking before she decided to die. A second use of foreshadowing is shown in a scene where all of Anna's peers are gathered around a table trying to make a connection with a the ghost of a women who was famous for her love affairs. This hints at Anna's affair with Vronsky and her fated death. The third use is found in the same scene when Anna describes her dream of an old man carrying a hammer and how she feels it is a symbol of how she will die. The old man works with trains. Anna sees him when she gets off her train ride for the last time and walks onto the railway ready to have her lights turned out.