The latest film version of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina has prompted a storm of passions in Russia where some critics have slammed it as cliched, shallow and insulting to Tolstoy's monumental work.

British director Joe Wright's costume drama starring Keira Knightley in the title role opened in Russian cinemas this month but its reception highlighted how hard it is for foreign versions of Russian classics to win recognition in the country.

"This is like a lavishly illustrated, glossy children's primer," wrote the Izvestia daily.