It’s got Oscar bait written all over it but this newly released first trailer reminds us why “Anna Karenina” can already be found on potential awards season winner lists. Director Joe Wright showcases his skills as one of the great auteurs with absolutely gorgeous visuals, taking the audience from one stunning scene to another by apparently using just the one tracking shot.

Star Kiera Knightley, who has already garnered two Oscar nominations from her work with Wright (“Atonement“, ”Pride and Prejudice“) looks right at home in this period drama, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy. In the film, Knightley’s titular Anna marries Jude Law’s high-ranking official before meeting and falling in love with Vronsky, played by Aaron Johnson – for whom this role may just be the one to kick his career up a notch.

Among the supporting cast are Kelly Macdonald, Alexandra Roach, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Emily Watson and Olivia Williams.

Click below for an official synopsis, the trailer and full size poster. “Anna Karenina” is set to hit screens in September for Europe and November in the US.

The third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with director Joe Wright, following the award-winning boxoffice successes “Pride & Prejudice” and “Atonement,” is the epic love story “Anna Karenina,” adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard (“Shakespeare in Love”). The story unfolds in its original late-19th-century Russia high-society setting and powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart, from the passion between adulterers to the bond between a mother and her children. As Anna (Ms. Knightley) questions her happiness, change comes to her family, friends, and community.