St Petersburg beauty Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley) is married to government official Alexei Karenin (Jude Law), but despite their enviable standing in late-19th century society, she feels no passion for her stuffy, older husband.
When Anna travels to Moscow to persuade the wife (Kelly Macdonald) of her cheating brother (Matthew Macfadyen) to forgive him, she catches the eye of dashing young Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Sharing a fiery chemistry, the pair begin a passionate love affair, but one that is doomed to tragedy.
Star Knightley and director Joe Wright team up for the third time to create a dazzling, stylised take on Leo Tolstoy's classic 1877 novel. An excellent Knightley gives her most mature performance to date, while Wright, who previously directed her in Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, flexes his creative muscles in his most visually and conceptually daring period drama so far.
Using a script by top playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, Wright stages much of the action in a theatre: an interesting twist on an oft-adapted piece that's more than worth a look for aficionados and newcomers alike.