Real ’90s kids know that, at one point in time,Jude Lawseemed like the hottest man who’s ever lived (maybe because he kinda is). From the mid-90s up to the mid-2000s,this man was on a hot streak where you couldn’t ignore how much raw passion he inspired. You could choose between his golden god Oscar-nominated turn inThe Talented Mr. Ripley, his robot sex worker inArtificial Intelligence, or his perfect fantasy dad inThe Holiday. He had an unholy combination of genetic luck, deadly charisma, and the slightest dash of sleaze that proved to be an irresistible combination for years. But eventually, even he had to stop relying on that, andunexpectedly found one of his better post-hot-streak roles playing someone so completely divorced from any of those qualities. In 2012’sAnna Karenina, he plays a man who is not only the antithesis of Law’s typical screen image but also carries a fascinating subtext that wouldn’t be there without Jude Law’s casting.
Jude Law Subverts His Usual Boyish Charm in ‘Anna Karenina’
Joe Wright’s lavish attempt at serving up a fresh interpretation ofAnna Kareninais most remembered for its audacious gimmick of always appearing to be on a theater stage, to mixed results. Despite his noblest intentions, the film does ultimately come off as an attempt at recapturing the lightning in a bottle ofAtonement, complete with that notoriously harsh-lit fuzzy cinematography andKeira Knightleysuffering glamorously for two hours. An obvious bright spot is the main cast, with Knightley, Law, andAaron Taylor-Johnsoneach giving performances that elevate the script past its abridging of an 800+ page book. Whilethe central love triangle dynamicis now the stuff of cliché, with a woman starving for passion and affection forced to choose between her boring husband (Law) and the handsome fantasy man (Taylor-Johnson), this adaptation is worth seeing for how these three play off each other.Law is given the hardest task of having to be captivating while seeming to bring nothing to the table.
Jude Law Is a Total Stiff in ‘Anna Karenina’, and that Works
The problem with Anna’s husband, Alexei, is that he doesn’t truly care about her feelings, so much as he cares about keeping their marital bond intact in the eyes of the public andGod. He openly professes to have little to no care as to how she feels or why she does any of her actions. The only time he ever bothers to assert himself and interfere is when she shows any “public displays” of behavior that draw attention, like when she dances with Vronsky ata high society ball.His whole demeanor is one of sourness, complacency, seeing his marriage as more of a public service obligationthan something to be nurtured and attended to, to the point where it’s hard to imagine what Alexei and Anna ever saw in each other. Passion is something that comes to him simply as a means of enforcing strict discipline and shame, but even then, he can barely get himself to yell, more prone to a hoarse grumble.
After ‘Anna Karenina,’ Jude Law Has Taken on More Darker Roles
Nothing about what I just said is anything like what we usually want to think of Jude Law, who, at his best, is often a fountain of fun to watch, whether he’s a dashing romancer ora rotten bastard. And yet, that’s why he works so well as Alexei, because by being stripped of his shiny veneer and insatiable lust, he revealswhat’s been at the heart of many of his best characters: a selfish insecurity and an unabashed self-pity that comes out in moments of vulnerability or defeat.Law’s best performancestend to be when he can really lay into himself or expose the fragility at the core of his seemingly well-handled world.
Jude Law and Jason Bateman Star in Netflix’s New Crime Drama Mini Series As Brothers in Harm
The drama series premieres this fall on Netflix.
Many of his best moments as Alexei come from when he finally lets Anna in just a bit, where the hurt creeps into his cold eyes or the slight shudder slips into his voice when he tries to sound domineering.The conflict between how he wants to present himself and how his behavior speaks to his true characteris a common thread throughout his filmography. Therefore, seeing Law be stricken in drab gray colors and made to be so moody is actually not that out of line with his track record when you consider the angry and forgiving man that Alexei is supposed to eventually reveal about himself. It doesn’t exactly make Alexei a secret good guy, but it does show him to be someone of more emotional depth than his chill exterior hints at,which has always been right up Law’s alley.
Not only was this a later career highlight for Law, but it proved to be a fork in the road for his career trajectory. He started more consistently taking on roles that had him playing around in the muck ofcharacters dealing with having to move past their golden days and battle social pressures. Some of his best roles in this phase, like inSteven Soderbergh’s medical thrillerSide EffectsorSean Durkin’s American nightmareThe Nest, forced him to grapple with realizing that he doesn’t have his fast ball anymore and that he can’t rely on the same tricks he used to to fix a situation he created. Even inthe much-malignedPeter Pan and Wendy, he was extremely compelling as a Captain Hook who mourns the childhood he’s lost and pities how he can’t move on from it, a more implosively agonized and resigned version compared toDustin Hoffman’s camp glory inHook. For whatever reason, Jude Law has a kind of charisma whereit’s now more enjoyable to watch him subvert it in ways you wouldn’t expect from such a heartthrob.
Anna Karenina
