Sad Girl Cinema Club: Anna Karenina (2012)

One of literature’s great sad girls is transposed to screen in an inventive (if not entirely successful) screen adaptation. Keira Knightley, at least, is perfection as the titular Russian aristocrat, a wife and mother whose life is derailed when she meets the cad Vronsky. Alas, he’s far less effectively cast: Star of last weekend’s D.O.A. Kraven the Hunter and the head-scratching favorite to play the next Bond, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is lethally bland as Anna’s lover. In the plus column: Matthew Macfadyen – first paired with director Joe Wright as an unforgettable Mr. Darcy – provides comic relief as Anna’s jovial, philandering brother. – Kimberley Jones Read a full review of Anna Karenina.