Anna Karenina Page #12

Kitty looks for Vronsky, can't see him, then is taken aback to see him with

Anna. Kitty watches Anna dancing. Anna says something which makes

Vronsky laugh. Anna laughs. Anna blossoms in front of Kitty's eyes. Vron-

sky twirls Anna around and she comes smiling into his arms.

It goes on like that. Kitty watches them from within the arms of young men,

old men, from the wall. Anna and Vronsky dance slow, they dance fast,

gaily, solemnly, gazes locked.

Others are noticing too: Countess Nordston, Princess Shcherbatsky, and

eagle-eyed matrons. Anna, oblivious, has found a release in herself.

52

Countess Nordston finds Kitty sitting alone. Korsunsky announces the

Mazurka.

COUNTESS NORDSTON

You're not dancing the mazurka? I won't

have it.

She pulls Kitty to her feet.

countess nordston (cont'd)

I'm engaged by General Glub--I give him

to you.

THE MAZURKA . . .

Korsunsky supervises a large circle of couples who change partners as they go

round, with one couple dancing in the middle of the circle.

KORSUNSKY:

. . . the lady chooses a lady and a

gentleman . . . !

The lady in the middle beckons to Anna and the man who, changing part-

ners, happens to be dancing with her. They enter the middle where they

have their solo turn as a couple, while the original couple reenter the circum-

ference. Anna is flushed with pleasure. Among the surrounding dancers,

Vronsky has no eyes for his partner, only for Anna. Kitty, dancing, watches

Vronsky incredulous.

KORSUNSKY (CONT'D)

(ADDRESSING ANNA)

. . . and the lady chooses a lady and a

gentleman . . . !

53

Anna looks smilingly around the dancing circle and sees Kitty staring

at her. Anna "wakes up." Everything which made her drunk makes her

sober in the instant. She waits until the change of partners brings Kitty

and Vronsky together. She beckons them into the middle. Her own partner

expects to re-join the circumference with Anna, but she makes an apology

and escapes through the circle, running towards the door.

With a howl and clatter, the St. Petersburg express seems to crash through

the ballroom.

MONTAGE:

An abstract, nightmarish, discordant noise of clattering and howling

accompanies unexplained flame--light on wood, glass, iron . . . blackness

opens like a door on a blizzard of light, and slams shut.

Anna's face, eyes closed, floats ghostlike.

INT. TRAIN, SAME TIME--NIGHT

Anna comes to consciousness in the dimly lit carriage, making sense of what

seems like a hallucination. Wind and snow batter on the window. The

Carriage Stoker, in long coat and cap, deals with the stove, clears frost off

a thermometer on the wall. He leaves, opening the door to snow and wind

and slamming it behind him.

EXT. RUSSIA--NIGHT

The train "speeds" (35 m.p.h.) through a blizzard.

54

INT. THE TRAIN

Anna has a reading lamp hooked over her armrest, and a novel. She cuts

a page with a paper-knife. But the book cannot hold her. She is reading

without taking it in. She turns back a page and tries again, but almost at

once she turns to the window where the dark reflection of her face looks back

at her. Kitty's face staring as she stared at Anna, betrayed.

Anna turns away from the window. The Guard comes through the door,

letting in wind and snow, and shuts it. He walks through the carriage.

GUARD:

Bologoye! Fifteen minutes.

The train is slowing.

EXT. BOLOGOYE--NIGHT

The train clanks to a halt at a small station. Anna (and a few others)

get down from the train. She wears a heavy cloak. The wind blows a few

snowflakes through the station but the roof keeps off the snow. She is glad of

the fresh air. Here and there, men are walking, smoking, laughing together.

She feels better.

A tall outline of a man in a greatcoat and military cap emerges from the

flickering gloom. She catches her breath. He salutes her.

VRONSKY:

Can I be of service to you?

ANNA:

I didn't know you were . . . Why are you

leaving?

55

VRONSKY:

You know why. I have to be where you are.

I can't not.

ANNA:

This is wrong. If you're a good man, forget

everything that happened, as I will.

VRONSKY:

I'll never forget a single thing about you,

not a word, not a gesture--

ANNA:

That's enough!

She climbs the steps on to the porch. At the door to the carriage she pauses.

The encounter has left her feeling elated and frightened.

EXT. STATION, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote