Anna Karenina is a 1997 American period drama film written and directed by Bernard Rose and starring Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, Alfred Molina, Mia Kirshner and James Fox.

Based on the 1878 novel of the same name by Leo Tolstoy, the film is about a young and beautiful married woman who meets a handsome count, with whom she falls in love.

Anna Karenina is the young and elegant wife of Alexei Karenin, a wealthy Russian nobleman twenty years her senior.

Karenin, under the poisonous influence of Anna's friend the Countess Lydia Ivanovna, indignantly refuses to divorce and denies her any access to Seriozha.

The film shows international cast of leading actors: French Sophie Marceau, British Sean Bean, Alfred Molina and James Fox, American Danny Huston, Canadian Mia Kirshner and others.

Music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev was recorded in performance by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sir Georg Solti.

[4] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 1 and a half stars out of 4, saying "There is much more to Tolstoy's story—but not in this bloodless and shallow adaptation.

Bernard Rose is a director of talent (his "Paperhouse" was a visionary film, and his "Immortal Beloved" was a biopic that brought great passion to the story of Beethoven).

"[5] Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it a "sleek, cliffs notes version of a masterpiece" criticizing it for being "glossy and picture perfect on the surface and hollow at the core.

"[6] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "this effort is handsome thanks to the matchless locations, in this case those in and around St. Petersburg, opulent costumes and good-looking cast.

But there is no dramatic urgency here and little more emotional resonance, problems that stem jointly from the adaptation, direction and casting.