Seven writers each take a day of the week to say something. Currently a few authors rotate to post on Wednesday.
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Greta Garbo in "Anna Karenina," Part 2 -- Garbo
In Part 1, last week, we looked at the famous ending of this 1935 film, in which Anna Karenina leaps onto a railroad track so she'll have a quick death and an end to a life no longer worth living.
This week we're going back to the beginning to see how Anna's limited choices resulted in tragedy. The story of "Anna Karenina" really begins with the moment anna steps down to the platform of the Moscow train station. She's the wife of an aristocrat in St. Petersburg, and has come to the larger city to help sort out a family issue. The steam from the locomotive clears away, and this is the face seen by military officer Count Vronsky:
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Vronsky is at the station to meet his mother, but when he sees Anna, he forgets everything but love and beauty. There's to be a ball at which the military officers will mix with aristocratic ladies, and when Anna is convinced by relatives to stay for the event, she and Vronsky dance and it's obvious that the two are crazy about each other.
Vronsky wants Anna to stay in Moscow longer, but she says she must go home to her husband and son.
Anna wants to see her son, but as you can see from this train window picture, Anna's bummed about leaving behind Vronsky to return to her husband.
Vronsky, it turns out, has sneaked onto the train.
Anna's husband (that's Basil Rathbone in a Russian hat and soul patch), always impatient, searches for his wife.
He locates her and collects his parcel -- uh, wife.
But look who Anna's run into at the Moscow train station.
Awkward. One might say very awkward.
But Anna's so very glad to get home to her son Sergei.
Anna and her husband attend a race in which cavalry officers, including Vronsky, are competing. Check out Anna's crazy binoculars.
Busted.
But when Vronsky falls from his horse and it's unclear about whether he's badly injured or worse, Anna's consternation drives away any thought about what her husband thinks.
A bad night in Aristocratville. His wife is out late with Vronsky, and he's pacing his study, pocket watch in hand. He'll push the hands of the clock in the room forward to make Anna think she's later than she is.
Anna knows she has to face the music, but first she has a tender moment with a sleepy Sergei.
He can scold and shame her all he wants but the problem is that Vronsky treats Anna as a real person and not like a possession. Vronsky encourages her artistic and creative pursuits. And he's a risk-taker, a handsome athletic military officer admired by his peers. Anna loves Vronsky, even though it's a problem.
The showdown. He says she is a sinner and a rule-breaker. She says he is an insensitive lout and a bully. She says he wants a divorce. He says not only will he not grant the divorce but if she sees Vronsky again, he'll prevent Anna from seeing their son. She says she can't live without seeing her son so she will give up Vronsky.
But Vronsky pursues Anna, saying he'll give up his military career to run away with her. It's all Anna wants, but finds that she can't stay away. She leaves Vronsky to come see little Sergei, only to be hustled out of her former stately home by the staff, who are terrified that the big boss will come back and find the forbidden Anna.
In last week's blog post, we went through the end of "Anna Karenina," which is tragic. Anna tries to seek out Vronsky, but he's now interested in a younger woman that his mother's found for him. Anna realizes that she has no options and she puts an end to her life, on her terms.
Well, all we can do is go back earlier in the film and comfort ourselves with this video clip, demonstrating the joy Anna felt dancing with Vronsky during the mazurka generale.
Next week: "Camille" and it's influence on popular culture
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