Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler, Martin Donovan, Toby Stephens, Lena Heady
Director: Martha Fiennes
Producers: Ileen Maisel, Simon Bosanquet
Screenplay: Michael Ignatieff, Peter Ettedgui, based on "Yevgeny Onegin" by Aleksandr Pushkin
Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin
Music: Magnus Fiennes
U.S. Distributor: Seven Arts International
Aleksandr Pushkin is a Russian national treasure - a poet whose literary reputation is on the same plane as that of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekov. Pushkin's best-known and most beloved work is arguably the narrative poem "Yevgeny Onegin," which was adapted into a screenplay by the writing team of Michael Ignatieff and Peter Ettedgui. The movie that resulted from this script, Onegin, is a Fiennes family affair. It is the directorial debut of Martha Fiennes, stars her brother Ralph, and is scored by her other brother, Magnus. However, what works beautifully as a poem isn't as moving or dramatically sound in motion picture form.
Onegin is not actually a bad film, although it's not a great one, either. It's a period piece set in mid-19th century Russia, and focuses on the tragic, ironic love affair between the title character (played by a subdued Ralph Fiennes) and a young woman named Tatiana (Liv Tyler, who is surprisingly effective). At their first meeting in the countryside, Tantiana falls madly in love with Onegin, but, when she declares her feelings, the aristocrat gently rebuffs her, telling her that he's not made for marriage. Six years later, circumstances bring the pair together again, this time in St. Petersburg. Now, the tables have been reversed. Onegin is enraptured by Tatiana's beauty, but she is now happily married and shows no interest in reviving her old feelings. That doesn't stop Onegin from pursuing her.
One of the problems with Onegin is that the material seems overly familiar. While it may have been relatively unique when Pushkin first put pen to paper, the story of mis-timed, out of synch love has become the foundation of literally hundreds of movies, from sumptuous period pieces (like this one) to modern thrillers. In order to capture and hold an audience's attention, Onegin needs to do something different, but the final production plays it safe.
Character development in Onegin is spotty. It's strong enough for us to understand the protagonist's conflicted feelings, but not so forceful that we are truly drawn into the drama and emotion of the situation. Martha Fiennes' direction is stately and detached. The film looks great but moves slowly, and there is a tangible distance between the audience and the characters. It also feels like a significant portion of the second half was left on the cutting room floor (or never filmed). The first hour of Onegin, which details the first meeting between Yevgeny and Tatiana, is nicely detailed, but the events surrounding their reunion are rushed. After a key event which allows the time frame to jump forward several years, the pace of Onegin suddenly goes into overdrive, and the care that was evident earlier is abandoned to serve the needs of a cluttered narrative.
As the title character, Ralph Fiennes is solid, but his performance here lacks the intensity evident in his best work (Schindler's List, Oscar and Lucinda). There's a coldness in Fiennes' interpretation that makes it difficult to see him as a romantic or tragic figure. The best melodramas get us involved in the lives of the characters. Onegin keeps us at bay. Liv Tyler is much better here than in either Stealing Beauty or Armageddon, but her performance is spotty (and not up to the level she attained with Heavy). She's attractive, but her range is limited. Nevertheless, she does a more credible job than I expected. (And, after Armageddon, who could blame me for being skeptical?) Martin Donovan plays Tatiana's husband, Toby Stephens is Onegin's friend and neighbor, and Lena Heady is Tatiana's older sister.
Onegin has an international distributor - Seven Arts - but it will likely not play in many U.S. theaters. It's the kind of movie that's worth seeing if it shows up at a convenient locale, but it isn't worth searching out. Ultimately, Onegin is little more than a truncated Masterpiece Theater mini-series with impeccable production values.
© 1999 James Berardinelli