This is a real treat. The Russian film industry has always excelled at making films from great books and this is no exception. One of the most famous novels to come out of Russia, Anna Karenina has been filmed for the screen many times before but I doubt with such loving attention to detail. The director places layer over layer to create a palpable depth to his film and to create a world that is astonishingly beautiful to look at. The film juxtaposes the most incredibly lavish costumes and sets with difficult and challenging questions about the nature of a woman’s role in society and how others perceive her, the consequences of infidelity for women as opposed to men, and the terrible double standards that are applied to the situation. The film apparently took 14 years to make and it is easy to see how and why. No detail is too much trouble, nothing is out of place, discordant or jarring; it is a film of seamless beauty. DRAMA: Russia, 2009