Onegin

Yevgeni Onegin lives in Petersburg and takes pleasure in nothing. His uncle dies and an estate in the country comes to him. He moves there. His neighbour Lenski is a young poet and introduces his fiancée Olga. Olga's elder sister Tatyana reads and says little. She writes Onegin a letter and says everything. Onegin gives the letter back and refuses her. Out of boredom at a ball he dances with Olga. Lenski calls him out. Years later Onegin sees Tatyana at a ball in Petersburg and this time it is she who speaks. Martha Fiennes directs. Ralph Fiennes plays Onegin and Liv Tyler plays Tatyana; Toby Stephens and Lena Headey are in the cast. It is a British production. The source is Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse; the adaptation turns the poetry into prose and that choice was argued over. The film is family work; the director is Ralph Fiennes's sister and their brother Magnus Fiennes wrote the music. The matter it treats is being late; the two characters want the same thing at different times. The narrative does not make Onegin sympathetic; he is arrogant, idle, and does not justify his refusal. The photography is cold; winter and the interiors are deliberately kept empty. A waltz used in the film comes from outside the period and the choice was criticised. Its limit is form; the language of the poem goes, the narrative is slow, and the feelings are seen from outside. Who it is for: viewers who like adaptations of Russian literature and period drama. Who it is not for: it is slow, distant, and the ending bitter.