Karen Shakhnazarov’s eight-part production “Anna Karenina” presents a highly unusual take on Leo Tolstoy’s legendary novel. In this series, the image of the title heroine is revealed through the memories of Alexei Vronsky, which the now elderly count shares with surgeon Sergei Karenin during the Russo-Japanese War. Vronsky’s story is imbued with the bitterness of tragedy. Although thirty years have passed since Anna’s fatal fall beneath the wheels of a locomotive, the pain has not gone away; it continues to live deep in his heart. Alexei honestly warns Sergei Karenin that this account will bring the doctor nothing but a new dose of suffering, caused above all by the mystery surrounding his mother’s suicide. Yet Sergei remains resolute in his desire to learn the truth, even if it is only as Vronsky sees it. And the count begins to remember: meeting Anna at a ball, their impetuous romance, their encounter at the horse races, the news of Anna’s pregnancy, the conversation with her husband Alexei Karenin, Anna’s grave illness, their flight to Venice, the agonizing search for happiness, and the breakup. No blanks will remain in this confession.
