Onegin

Any film that opens with a carriage on runners being pulled through the snow has got to try really hard to fail. My wife and I spent the whole of this film entranced by the scenery, the exquisitely detailed sets and costumes, superb performances by all of the cast with a refreshingly thoughtful and adult dialogue and several surprising twists in the story. Liv Tyler delivered the most sensual performance I have seen in a film for quite a few years proving that you don't have to be naked and sweaty to stimulate an audience! I have not read the original story but I think this film may do for russian novelists what the recent spate of period dramas have done for Shakespeare and Jane Austen. The pacing of the film is slow and salubrious but definitely not plodding (sic. Angela's Ashes) You will be left wanting more but any more would spoil the plot. Don't miss it. Full marks.

This is a truly wonderful film. It is an adaptation of the 19th century romantic poem by Alexander Pushkin about the tragic love affair between Evgeny Onegin (Ralph Fiennes) and Tatyana Larina (Liv Tyler). Evgeny has inherited his uncle's provincial estate and goes to the country to put his affairs in order. While there, he befriends Vladimir (Toby Stevens) who introduces him to Tatyana, the sister of his fiancé. Tatyana falls madly in love with Evgeny, but he brutally rejects her and leaves to return to St. Petersburg. Upon returning years later to find her married, his regrets ignite into a passionate and obsessive love for her.

There has been some criticism of the fact that this film was produced by Ralph Fiennes to give a project to his sister Martha (director) and brother Magnus (original music). Well, if this is the high quality wrought from Fiennes nepotism, we need more such collaborations.

In her feature film directorial debut, Martha Fiennes gives us outstanding imagery, precise period renderings, innovative camera work, and dramatic lighting. The locations, sets, costumes and props were fabulous. I especially loved the furniture. The scenes on the dock by the mill in the fog were eerie and chilling. One shot of Liv Tyler in a rowboat, shot through out-of-focus reeds in the foreground, was pure art. The extreme close-up of the inking of the love letter added to the power of the emotions being written. Remi Adefarasin (‘Elizabeth') added wondrous cinematography to the list of filmmaking kudos.

Ralph Fiennes delivers another superb performance as Evgeny. In the early scenes, he is cavalier, self absorbed, and arrogant to the point of being despicable. His stoical dismissal of Tatyana was ice cold. In the later scenes, he delivers a character so pathetically tormented by love that he wins back our sympathies.

This is by far the best performance I have seen by Liv Tyler. She was poised, graceful and lovely, and gave an extremely dignified performance. With this role, she has proven that she can move beyond the troubled teen type and play a character with substance.

This is intelligent and inspired filmmaking. I rated it a 9/10. The pacing is deliberate, so action junkies will want to pass on this film. However, for those who can savor a compelling love story with splendid imagery, this film should not be missed.

This film is a visual delight and a faithful adaptation of the famous Pushkin poem. The story revolves around a country woman who falls for a sophisticated man. Starring handsome Ralph Fiennes as the title character and winsome Liv Tyler as his star-crossed love interest, viewers will get caught up in the ebb and flow of the romance, as well as the innovative and beautiful techniques of film-making. ( A scene where Liv Tyler's character writes a letter is spectacular.) As the first setting in the desolate countryside gives way to the bustling city of St. Petersburg in the second half, change and surprise is integral to the slow, well-developed storyline. See it for Fiennes performance and the talents of his sister and brother who directed and scored the film, respectively. Recommended as a great film for a winter's evening by the fire.

This is a very good film overall. Having grown up in Russia and being, as we would say here, `a great Pushkin's fan' ;-), I was caught between curiosity and caution when deciding whether I should even rent this film. Then I saw Ralph Fiennes name and thought that it could not be all that bad.so curiosity won. I was pleasantly surprised that the film is fairly faithful to the original. Not completely, of course, but when I think about horrible mutilations other filmmakers perform on marvelous works of literature, I'm very grateful that the producers of `Onegin' read the poem very well and chose scenes and changed some of them with care. I won't talk a lot about beauty of scenes in the film: it's a pleasure to watch. Here are some of the things I didn't like. First of all I was a little disappointed by the film's interiors. Several of them look very natural (some of the room's in Larin's and Onegin's houses). Others (like Petersburg palaces) more than anything resemble theatrical decorations. I don't think this was intentional, since the overall scenery is very realistic. Another objection is the lovemaking scene. I don't think it belongs or was needed at all. Was it just a due paid to modern filmmaking? Why not do Tatyana's dream instead (this is a meaningful symbolic scene in the poem, not filming it could hardly be an accidental decision, I would love to know what was the reason)? The third, kind of big problem is that married Tatyana is not clearly portrayed as the queen of Petersburg's society. This detail is very important for understanding of Onegin's character: a tragic figure who can only exist within the laws and decorations of high society - the very society he despises more than anything else. Tatyana, the queen of this society, a complete part of it and yet completely not involved with it, comfortably within and yet far above the chattering crowd - that very likely is the only thing Onegin can love. Unfortunately the question `am I noble enough for you now?' which Tatyana throws at Onegin during the climax scene of the film, does not fully convey that understanding and is an oversimplification compared to the speech that Pushkin's Tatyana gives to her fallen and still loved hero.

Russians consider Pushkin's "Evgenii Onegin" one of the peaks of their literature, but to British drama actors/directors/composers Fiennes the work remained just a curiosity which could be easily brought to screen for a nice, and unambitious family project. Where Russian readers and western students of Russian culture see a vision of the decadence of Russian aristocracy, and a condemnation of the Ancien Regime, both in social, and cultural terms, the Fiennes saw a nice romantic interlude. The limited scope of the filmmakers'interest explains why the movie is successful in just one aspect - the two love scenes between Onegin and Larina are great, actually much better than what Russian actors would perform in the place of Fiennes and Tyler. But that's that. Everything else, including the duel, or the scandal between Lensky and Onegin, is dull, insipid and rather un-Russian. Fiennes obviously misunderstood the meaning of being "tired of life". Pushkin's Onegin was not a self-centered, self-sufficient and utterly satisfied English gentleman who speaks patronizingly to everyone in the country because "he knows things". He was a model for generations of Russian "malcontents": in a rigidly conservative society playing the "tired of life" was a social stand, not a psychological state. Onegin was a passionate man and his aloofness was a deliberate pretense (not that much different from Hamlet's delusive craziness). In short, the Fienneses had better screen a romantic drama without referring to Pushkin's masterpiece. Their movie is nice, watchable and enjoyable (well, Liv Tyler stars in it!), but their rendition of Pushkin's characters is so dissatisfying, the great poet might easily take offense.