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Review: Anastasia (1956)
I didn't really like this movie that much. I felt that some of the writing tropes were kind of dated, and the way that it went about exploring certain themes just didn't feel impactful to me.
Spoilers.
Story
If you've seen the cartoon version of Anastasia, the gist of the story is mostly similar. A bunch of aggressive (con)men try to find a woman whom they can present as an heir of the late Romanov family, because she has a huge inheritance.
They stumbled upon a woman with amnesia, who over time started to exhibit behaviours to suggest that she truly was Anastasia. During their journey, they were received by a lot of doubters, but eventually Anastasia/Anna was able to convince the Dowager Empress that she was Anastasia.
After doing some reading, I guess the point of the movie was that Anna would never know if she was the true Grand Duchess Anastasia. She was accepted by the Dowager Empress, but even then, the Dowager Empress still had doubts. It's just that she chose to ignore them as she'd missed her family so much. The way that Anastasia convinced the Dowager Empress was through knowledge that her grandmother used to call her Malenkaia and that she coughed when frightened. Though Anna was coughing from fright when we first met her, there's still a chance that Bounine could have trained her to know these things.
It's fine that the story didn't want to give us a definite answer about her identity, it's just that I wished they'd explored Anastasia/Anna's identity crisis in a way that was more interesting. It seemed to me that Anna probably took on the job because at least she'd have food on the table. Along the way, as she learned more about Anastasia, it matched up with her own memory. But they always came at such random times, of Anastasia/Anna remembering random tidbits that came out of nowhere. I know that Bounine, Chernov, and Petrovin didn't really care whether she was Anastasia and that's why they didn't care to dig into her past, but if that was the case, I didn't really care much for whether she was Anastasia either, when that's supposed to be the point of the movie.
I felt I would have been more engaged with this topic if we had more information about Anna's past other than just her memories. For example, when she was questioned about her train accident, I felt that it would have been more interesting to explore that train accident.
At the last minute, the movie changed from a story about identity to a romantic story. So it turns out Anna only wanted to know her identity because she was longing for love and she could only get that if she knew who she was. However, Bounine loved her (debatable) when he didn't even know who she was, so she should in fact be with him. Very questionable writing. And I can't say with any confidence that Bounine ever loved Anna; I did think he only wanted her to succeed for his own ambition.
Not to mention Anna had invested all this time in convincing the Dowager Empress that she was her granddaughter and now she's going to dip? The Dowager Empress knew there was a risk she was fooling herself too, but that doesn't really match up with the person she's been portrayed to be.
Anyway, I didn't like the writing.
Production
The production was okay. I wasn't particularly impressed by any of the architecture or the costuming to be honest.
And the acting...maybe it was of a past time so I didn't really know how to appreciate it.
Characters
Anastasia Nikolaievna/Anna Koreff
Anna was recruited into Bounine's scheme after Stepan recognized her as a woman he saw at an asylum who'd said that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. When we met her, she wasn't sure of who she was, and she'd joined in the scheme because Bounine said he'd help her.
She agreed to learn all of these facts about Anastasia, but even then, they weren't really making any headway. During this time, she did reveal some of her memories of herself, implying that she was indeed Anastasia, but Bounine, Chernov, and Petrovin never really read too much into them. I think this is why I never really got invested in Anna's question of identity; because the others never bothered to explore them. And they didn't help Anna in convincing others that she was actually Anastasia. In the end, it was still obscure facts that convinced the Dowager Empress.
Anna insisted that she wasn't there for the money, but like the Dowager Empress said, it was hard to believe her. But the Dowager Empress accepted her anyway, perhaps because Anna was closest to the real Anastasia that she'd ever seen, and she was so tired of being alone. Anna of course loved having familial love around her, but perhaps it was the lingering doubt and the commitment to the role of Anastasia that caused her to back out. Dowager Empress accepted her, but it's not like Anna recovered her memories, so she didn't know for sure. And now she had to take on all of the responsibilities of Anastasia, including inheriting the throne and the money and marrying Paul, and all of that was too much.
Bounine convinced her that when she knew nothing, Bounine was the only one who ever looked at her (>.>) and so that was what convinced Anna to run away with him at the end of the movie.
The end of the movie turned her identity crisis into a quest for love. It's not that that can't be possible, but it was such a rough pivot, not to mention that I never sensed any romantic feelings between Anna and Bounine. Did Anna ever see Bounine as anyone other than someone using her for money? Oh, he wanted to leave before the coronation, that singular act shows that he didn't care for the money or power >.> Hard to say that when all of his actions up until then proved otherwise.
Anyway, Anna as a character could have been interesting and introspective, but we got none of it.
Sergei Pavlovich Bounine
...I really didn't like this man. He was supposed to come off as cutthroat and cunning, but he didn't come off as charming, which was what made him so difficult to like. How could I expect him to convince all these people that he was right when I myself couldn't? Him not being charming doesn't excuse the fact that he could be right, but I just found it so difficult to see him as the kind of person the movie was trying to present him as.
And love? When did this man ever love Anna?! What was anyone thinking? When did he ever care for her? He never gave her attention except to train her to be Anastasia? Anna and Bounine even had the conversation in which Anna said that Bounine only ever used people, and Bounine confirmed this. So Anna ran away with Bounine because even though he only paid attention to her to use her, she could rely on that? Listen, if that was the point, we really needed much more development than just a few conversations where Bounine told us or implied that he loved Anna, I needed it shown to me, and he never did.
Bounine kind of ridiculed Anna for going along with all of the responsibilities that came with Anastasia, when Anna had claimed that she only ever wanted to know her identity. I think it's pretty judgmental of him to say this. Once you take on an identity, what's wrong with doing the things that affirms that identity? I guess he was having second thoughts about turning Anna into Anastasia because he liked Anna better, but only because he could control her, whereas Anastasia was someone he couldn't control >.> Again, doesn't help him.
And Bounine said that Prince Paul only wanted to be with her for who she was....yeah?! Paul and Anastasia had a past history as childhood sweethearts, why is it questionable for Paul to want to be with his childhood sweetheart? The movie tried to show us that he only cared for rich princesses by having Paul tell Anastasia that she must inherit the money, but I think it missed the mark. Paul didn't want to be with Anastasia because she was a rich princess, it was because she was the Anastasia that he used to be in love with.
Dowager Empress
The Dowager Empress was very reluctant to see Bounine's newest "client" (as she called them) because he had attempted to present so many frauds to her in the past. Afterwards, Prince Paul came to see her because he was enamoured with Anna and wanted to accept her, and the Dowager Empress refused.
So what caused the Dowager Empress to see Anna? She told herself that she was being too stubborn, and to just see her this once. I guess part of her was longing for family, and she just wanted to see Anna, in the off chance, no matter how small, that it was actually her.
When the Dowager Empress spoke to Anna, she was not convinced at first, as expected. She was very unmoved by Anna's knowledge of obscure facts, and her despair. And yet, she was eventually convinced by Anna's knowledge of obscure facts about Anastasia...But like I said, maybe she was just tired, and since this lady was the closest she'd ever seen, she decided to accept her.
So after that, all of the responsibilities that came with being Anastasia followed. She had to be coronated, inherit the money, etc.
Dowager Empress sensed that there was something going on between Anastasia and Bounine, and in the end, she seemed quite accepting of them two eloping...this really seemed to come out of nowhere. The Dowager Empress had hardened her heart all these years because she was lonely but afraid of being conned. At this point, she'd accepted Anastasia even with the doubts in her mind because at least Anastasia would play the role of her granddaughter. But now Anastasia is no longer playing the role of her granddaughter...The point of the movie was that we weren't sure if Anna was actually Anastasia and the Dowager Princess was always worried about this too...but now she's okay with it...
This story line just didn't really add up for me. What was the point of all of this?
Prince Paul
Prince Paul was betrothed to Anastasia at a young age. Bounine introduced them and Paul did genuinely like Anastasia, even though they'd both changed. But their romantic courtship was simultaneously all over the place and nowhere.
Anna encouraged Paul to get to know her as just another woman, and he did, and he found that he liked her. So he wanted to marry her. But then Anna grew concerned (after Bounine's statements) that he only liked her because she was a princess. I guess that's a valid concern.
I guess the part that doesn't sit right with me is that Bounine said that Paul wouldn't even look at her if she wasn't a princess...Dude, Paul didn't even know that Anastasia was alive. Why would have looked at a random woman he didn't know? As I mentioned, Paul being interested in Anastasia because they were childhood sweethearts seems perfectly fine to me. It's just that the part about inheriting the money was off putting for Anna.
Anyway, Paul was kind of a non-character. He was definitely only there as an excuse to get Anna and Bounine together.
Themes
Identity was definitely the big theme here, but like I said, I didn't think it was explroed in a way that was interesting. All of the things about identity were told rather than shown.
And then the reason for Anna wanting to know her identity went back to her need for love which is...kind of unfairly simplifying the situation. She can want to know who she is for herself as well.
Overall
What a mess of a movie. I can see why it might appeal to people, but definitely not for me in the year 2022.
Spoilers.
Story
If you've seen the cartoon version of Anastasia, the gist of the story is mostly similar. A bunch of aggressive (con)men try to find a woman whom they can present as an heir of the late Romanov family, because she has a huge inheritance.
They stumbled upon a woman with amnesia, who over time started to exhibit behaviours to suggest that she truly was Anastasia. During their journey, they were received by a lot of doubters, but eventually Anastasia/Anna was able to convince the Dowager Empress that she was Anastasia.
After doing some reading, I guess the point of the movie was that Anna would never know if she was the true Grand Duchess Anastasia. She was accepted by the Dowager Empress, but even then, the Dowager Empress still had doubts. It's just that she chose to ignore them as she'd missed her family so much. The way that Anastasia convinced the Dowager Empress was through knowledge that her grandmother used to call her Malenkaia and that she coughed when frightened. Though Anna was coughing from fright when we first met her, there's still a chance that Bounine could have trained her to know these things.
It's fine that the story didn't want to give us a definite answer about her identity, it's just that I wished they'd explored Anastasia/Anna's identity crisis in a way that was more interesting. It seemed to me that Anna probably took on the job because at least she'd have food on the table. Along the way, as she learned more about Anastasia, it matched up with her own memory. But they always came at such random times, of Anastasia/Anna remembering random tidbits that came out of nowhere. I know that Bounine, Chernov, and Petrovin didn't really care whether she was Anastasia and that's why they didn't care to dig into her past, but if that was the case, I didn't really care much for whether she was Anastasia either, when that's supposed to be the point of the movie.
I felt I would have been more engaged with this topic if we had more information about Anna's past other than just her memories. For example, when she was questioned about her train accident, I felt that it would have been more interesting to explore that train accident.
At the last minute, the movie changed from a story about identity to a romantic story. So it turns out Anna only wanted to know her identity because she was longing for love and she could only get that if she knew who she was. However, Bounine loved her (debatable) when he didn't even know who she was, so she should in fact be with him. Very questionable writing. And I can't say with any confidence that Bounine ever loved Anna; I did think he only wanted her to succeed for his own ambition.
Not to mention Anna had invested all this time in convincing the Dowager Empress that she was her granddaughter and now she's going to dip? The Dowager Empress knew there was a risk she was fooling herself too, but that doesn't really match up with the person she's been portrayed to be.
Anyway, I didn't like the writing.
Production
The production was okay. I wasn't particularly impressed by any of the architecture or the costuming to be honest.
And the acting...maybe it was of a past time so I didn't really know how to appreciate it.
Characters
Anastasia Nikolaievna/Anna Koreff
Anna was recruited into Bounine's scheme after Stepan recognized her as a woman he saw at an asylum who'd said that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. When we met her, she wasn't sure of who she was, and she'd joined in the scheme because Bounine said he'd help her.
She agreed to learn all of these facts about Anastasia, but even then, they weren't really making any headway. During this time, she did reveal some of her memories of herself, implying that she was indeed Anastasia, but Bounine, Chernov, and Petrovin never really read too much into them. I think this is why I never really got invested in Anna's question of identity; because the others never bothered to explore them. And they didn't help Anna in convincing others that she was actually Anastasia. In the end, it was still obscure facts that convinced the Dowager Empress.
Anna insisted that she wasn't there for the money, but like the Dowager Empress said, it was hard to believe her. But the Dowager Empress accepted her anyway, perhaps because Anna was closest to the real Anastasia that she'd ever seen, and she was so tired of being alone. Anna of course loved having familial love around her, but perhaps it was the lingering doubt and the commitment to the role of Anastasia that caused her to back out. Dowager Empress accepted her, but it's not like Anna recovered her memories, so she didn't know for sure. And now she had to take on all of the responsibilities of Anastasia, including inheriting the throne and the money and marrying Paul, and all of that was too much.
Bounine convinced her that when she knew nothing, Bounine was the only one who ever looked at her (>.>) and so that was what convinced Anna to run away with him at the end of the movie.
The end of the movie turned her identity crisis into a quest for love. It's not that that can't be possible, but it was such a rough pivot, not to mention that I never sensed any romantic feelings between Anna and Bounine. Did Anna ever see Bounine as anyone other than someone using her for money? Oh, he wanted to leave before the coronation, that singular act shows that he didn't care for the money or power >.> Hard to say that when all of his actions up until then proved otherwise.
Anyway, Anna as a character could have been interesting and introspective, but we got none of it.
Sergei Pavlovich Bounine
...I really didn't like this man. He was supposed to come off as cutthroat and cunning, but he didn't come off as charming, which was what made him so difficult to like. How could I expect him to convince all these people that he was right when I myself couldn't? Him not being charming doesn't excuse the fact that he could be right, but I just found it so difficult to see him as the kind of person the movie was trying to present him as.
And love? When did this man ever love Anna?! What was anyone thinking? When did he ever care for her? He never gave her attention except to train her to be Anastasia? Anna and Bounine even had the conversation in which Anna said that Bounine only ever used people, and Bounine confirmed this. So Anna ran away with Bounine because even though he only paid attention to her to use her, she could rely on that? Listen, if that was the point, we really needed much more development than just a few conversations where Bounine told us or implied that he loved Anna, I needed it shown to me, and he never did.
Bounine kind of ridiculed Anna for going along with all of the responsibilities that came with Anastasia, when Anna had claimed that she only ever wanted to know her identity. I think it's pretty judgmental of him to say this. Once you take on an identity, what's wrong with doing the things that affirms that identity? I guess he was having second thoughts about turning Anna into Anastasia because he liked Anna better, but only because he could control her, whereas Anastasia was someone he couldn't control >.> Again, doesn't help him.
And Bounine said that Prince Paul only wanted to be with her for who she was....yeah?! Paul and Anastasia had a past history as childhood sweethearts, why is it questionable for Paul to want to be with his childhood sweetheart? The movie tried to show us that he only cared for rich princesses by having Paul tell Anastasia that she must inherit the money, but I think it missed the mark. Paul didn't want to be with Anastasia because she was a rich princess, it was because she was the Anastasia that he used to be in love with.
Dowager Empress
The Dowager Empress was very reluctant to see Bounine's newest "client" (as she called them) because he had attempted to present so many frauds to her in the past. Afterwards, Prince Paul came to see her because he was enamoured with Anna and wanted to accept her, and the Dowager Empress refused.
So what caused the Dowager Empress to see Anna? She told herself that she was being too stubborn, and to just see her this once. I guess part of her was longing for family, and she just wanted to see Anna, in the off chance, no matter how small, that it was actually her.
When the Dowager Empress spoke to Anna, she was not convinced at first, as expected. She was very unmoved by Anna's knowledge of obscure facts, and her despair. And yet, she was eventually convinced by Anna's knowledge of obscure facts about Anastasia...But like I said, maybe she was just tired, and since this lady was the closest she'd ever seen, she decided to accept her.
So after that, all of the responsibilities that came with being Anastasia followed. She had to be coronated, inherit the money, etc.
Dowager Empress sensed that there was something going on between Anastasia and Bounine, and in the end, she seemed quite accepting of them two eloping...this really seemed to come out of nowhere. The Dowager Empress had hardened her heart all these years because she was lonely but afraid of being conned. At this point, she'd accepted Anastasia even with the doubts in her mind because at least Anastasia would play the role of her granddaughter. But now Anastasia is no longer playing the role of her granddaughter...The point of the movie was that we weren't sure if Anna was actually Anastasia and the Dowager Princess was always worried about this too...but now she's okay with it...
This story line just didn't really add up for me. What was the point of all of this?
Prince Paul
Prince Paul was betrothed to Anastasia at a young age. Bounine introduced them and Paul did genuinely like Anastasia, even though they'd both changed. But their romantic courtship was simultaneously all over the place and nowhere.
Anna encouraged Paul to get to know her as just another woman, and he did, and he found that he liked her. So he wanted to marry her. But then Anna grew concerned (after Bounine's statements) that he only liked her because she was a princess. I guess that's a valid concern.
I guess the part that doesn't sit right with me is that Bounine said that Paul wouldn't even look at her if she wasn't a princess...Dude, Paul didn't even know that Anastasia was alive. Why would have looked at a random woman he didn't know? As I mentioned, Paul being interested in Anastasia because they were childhood sweethearts seems perfectly fine to me. It's just that the part about inheriting the money was off putting for Anna.
Anyway, Paul was kind of a non-character. He was definitely only there as an excuse to get Anna and Bounine together.
Themes
Identity was definitely the big theme here, but like I said, I didn't think it was explroed in a way that was interesting. All of the things about identity were told rather than shown.
And then the reason for Anna wanting to know her identity went back to her need for love which is...kind of unfairly simplifying the situation. She can want to know who she is for herself as well.
Overall
What a mess of a movie. I can see why it might appeal to people, but definitely not for me in the year 2022.