Blu-ray

Anna Karenina (2012)

Anton van Beek  |  Mar 13, 2013

A heady combination of style and substance breathes new life into Tolstoy's classic love story

Against all the odds, director Joe Wright has managed to find a fresh approach to Tolstoy's novel with this 12th bigscreen adaptation. Wright stages the story within the confines of an artificial theatre setting to act as a 'metaphor for Russian society at the time' and 'the roles we all play in life'. If this all sounds rather dull and conceptual, it's not – instead it adds a lavish visual conceit to this well-worn story of love, and those visuals look great in 1080p courtesy of the Blu-ray's richly saturated VC-1 2.40:1 encode.

The hi-def platter also offers up a fair selection of bonus goodies to sink your teeth into, too. The take the form of eight deleted scenes (13-mins), six short behind-the-scenes featurettes (Anna Karenina: An Epic Story About Love, Adapting Tolstoy, Keira as Anna, On Set with Director Joe Wright, Dressing Anna and Anna Karenina: Time-Lapse Photography) and a feature-length audio commentary with the director.

Universal Pictures, All-region BD, £25 Approx, On sale now
HCC VERDICT: 4/5

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