ONEGIN




Film Review
December 1999 Issue



English-speaking adaptions of Russian classics are invariably fraught with difficulties. You have only to look at the disastrous Anna Karenina, released here just two years ago, to see the problem. Onegin, based on Alexander Pushkin's great verse novel, is not entirely immune to the normal set-backs, but it stands its ground with intelligence and majesty.

Directed by Martha Fiennes, starring Ralph Fiennes and gloriously scored by Magnus Fiennes, this is a family affair that should make the sibling's father a very proud man indeed. Arguably the greatest novel of the Russian language, Onegin tells the story of Evgeny Onegin, a cynical, arrogant, smug, sarcastic and outspoken aristocrat with little interest in the company of others.

Yet there are so many levels to Evgeny, artfully peeled apart by Pushkin's tragic story, that one cannot help but be fascinated by him. Following an introduction to his dilettante lifestyle in St. Petersburg, the film shifts to the snowy wasteland of the countryside where Evgeny is summoned to his dying uncle's bed. When Evgeny inherits the estate of the latter, he adopts the mantle of a country gentleman and befriends a neighbouring romantic, Vladimir Lensky (Stephens) to whom he grows increasingly attached, even as he refuses to overlook the man's provincial nature.

Evgeny also takes a liking to Tatyana, the sister of Lensky's fiancee, but summarily rebuffs her attentions when she professes her love for him.

While Ralph Fiennes affects an unfortunate stoop that calls to mind a Dickensian undertaker, he does convey enormous physical power and emotional complexity which is perfect for the part. Less succesful is Liv Tyler, though her standard English vowels are coming along marvelously, as evinced earlier this year in Plunkett and Macleane. She does, however, lack the substance and ethereal grace that Tatyana so obviously possesses in abundance, and is a poor match for the rigid magnetism of her would-be lover.

Performances aside, this handsome production really does capture a feel for the times. Filmed on authentic locations in St. Petersburg, the film is a visual treat and a creditable and moving treatment of a difficult literary work.

 

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