Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina: Yay or Nay?

In time, every woman in literature and history will have been played by Keira Knightley. Well, she does have a particular talent for period dramas… So, the upcoming film adaptation of Anna Karenina reunites Keira Knightley with director Joe Wright, who steered the actress to her first Academy Award nod in Pride and Prejudice and a widely-praised turn in Atonement.

Keira Knightley plays the leading role in Anna Karenina

In the new film, based on the Leo Tolstoy novel, Knightley plays one of literature’s most iconic heroines, an aristocrat who betrays the norms of 19th century Russia to pursue a passionate extramarital affair.

Judging from the trailer, Keira is pretty much “the go-to girl for successful classic book-to film adaptations – yes, she’s obviously good at playing old-world heroines. Pedestrian TV says:

The beautiful and anguished Knightley seems a brilliant choice.”

But taking on the role is a risky move. No matter how good she is, she’ll be “heavily scrutinized by literary purists” who have their own opinions of how Karenina should be played. It will prove incredibly tough to overcome their overly-discerning eyes.

Certain books are meant to be read twice in a lifetime. Once during highschool years (broaden the mind a bit on the global literary offerings), and later on, when you have lived a bit. Not only might you appreciate the prose a bit more, or in certain cases depreciate, but your understanding of relationships in different eras, would draw more emotional sympathy or disdain, when paralleled with your own life experience.

I don’t see Keira as Anna either, but I cannot wait to see if she rises to the challenge…

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