Cheap Onegin (DVD) (Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler) (Martha Fiennes) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Onegin

Dissipated playboy Evgeny Onegin (Ralph Fiennes) inherits the country estate of his late uncle and travels there to decide what to do with it. There he befriends a rather excitable young man, Vladimir Lensky (Toby Stephens), who introduces him to the family of his fiancee. The fiancee's sister, the beautiful Tatyana Larina (Liv Tyler), catches Onegin's eye and his fancy. She falls in love with him, but he kindly rejects her.

A crisis separates Onegin from the Larina family, when Vladimir takes a warning the wrong way, challenges Onegin to a duel, and is killed. He leaves on travels, and a cousin tries to marry Tatyana off, even though she doesn't want to marry without love. Six years later, he returns to St. Petersburg and finds Tatyana is living there -- but is married to another man.

It's a simple plot, and definitely one where you wonder what will happen in the end. You wonder if Tatyana and Onegin will be together, you wonder if the end will be happy or sad, and you even wonder if both of them will live to the end. With a minimum of effort, Martha Fiennes makes us care deeply about Tatyana (a sympathetic character) and Onegin (a not-so-sympathetic character). The surroundings reflect what is going on -- the windy cold of St. Petersburg, the murky gray morning of the duel, and the sunny afternoon where Tatyana watches Onegin from her hidden boat. Another good effect that Fiennes uses is sound, especially after Vladimir is killed: Tatyana rushes into her house, crying and telling her mother and sister what happened. There is no sound, no music. All we see are the family's anguished faces, and it is all the more effective that way. The sweeping sets and costumes are outstandingly lush and beautiful.

Liv Tyler does an excellent job as Tatyana (my only quibble is that the hairstyles and clothes are definitely not what she should wear). She embodies the right combination of passion and quiet, like a statue that stays cool, distant and untouchable, until the statue cracks and all her emotions spill out. We gradually see that for all Tatyana's dreaminess and seeming spaciness, she's as solid and upright as a pillar. Ralph Fiennes is equally good at making us like Onegin, an idle playboy with a dislike of responsibility, who starts the movie daydreaming about a courtesan. And even though it was his own fault that he missed happiness with Tatyana, we feel sorry for him and wish that somehow their problems could be ironed out. His gradual awakening to real human feeling at Vladimir's death is one of the most powerful moments in the entire movie. There are also good supporting performances from Harriet Walter and Lena Headey as Tatyana's distant mother and flighty sister.

The romantics among you will love "Onegin," and probably will be shedding tears at the finale. Amazing actors and direction that will knock your socks off, and one you should definitely see.

'Love heightens our senses but lowers our perceptions.'
Having never read the novel in verse on which this is based, I regard the story by its own merit. 'Onegin' is a haunting, passionate, beautiful, and unforgettable tale of unrequited love. The film follows the tragic story of Evgene Onegin (Ralph Fiennes), a Russian playboy who catches the eye of innocent Tatyana (Liv Tyler). Rejecting her confession of love, Onegin is lead to commit a spontanious action which leads to eventual tragedy, his seperation from Tatyana, and their reunion years later after her marriage to his cousin, a czar. The film ends with a powerful climax very different from most productions of this nature.

With lush costuming, beautiful cinematography, and rock-solid performances from a fantastic cast, 'Onegin' is an unusual kind of film. Moving along at a measured pace, it demands patience but also evokes obsession. We cringe at the inevitable, shed a few tears, and cheer at the final conflict. It's a story of love, tragedy, circumstance, and choices. I came into it with sincere doubt, certain my hopes would be dashed. For once I was pleasantly surprised at the restraint and dignity shown in the production and its conclusion. When all other aspects are stripped away, it becomes a tale of a woman's honor. It's not a subject often breached, and for this element alone hold my admiration and praise.

It also has one of the most stunningly picturesque and yet chillingly horrific dueling scenes I've ever witnessed on film. The emotion and intensity of the tragic cold winter morning on the docks builds to an inevitable climax and shows the profound sorrow that follows in the wake of a terrible mistake. I much appreciated witnessing the victor's anger, frustration, and sorrow over what he was forced to do in order to defend his good name. Was the outcome by chance or intention? Perhaps we'll never know.

Fiennes' sister directed the film and his claims that she has a "sensual power" over the camera are true. Every frame is full of romantic intensity. I do question her reasoning for moments of complete silence and the soundtrack at times is grating on the nerves, but overall I was very impressed.

excellent translation
There are two theories of translation -- one that you should stick as literally to the original as possible, the other that you should take certain liberties to get a good end result. I adhere to the views of the latter school.

Pushkin has managed to move one of the greatest nations on the earth to the core, to unify them for 200 years. Many Russians would say Evgenii Onegin is Russia's greatest literary work. But the original is in rhyme, a rhyme that feels sort of baroque and fairy-tale-ish to me, and that part of it doesn't translate well to the modern English-speaking range of sentiment.

A Russian sculptor friend of mine once asked me what the difference was between art and decoration, and when I had no answer, he said, "Decoration is about many things. Art is about one Thing."

Onegin is about one thing, and that one thing is faithfully preserved in this film. The film leaves out lots of lesser things, which point to this one thing, but you have to make choices to fit the world into two hours. That one thing is heart and mind of Evgenii -- what makes a man say no to that which he loves and wants above everything else? What makes a man deceive himself into believing he (and even she) don't want it? What becomes of such a man?

God is great.

Tatyana sees right through him even in her moment of greatest agony and she never wavers. It makes me dizzy to think how much pain I might have been spared had I had such insight at 17. And that aspect of Pushkin's story strikes me as beautifully unrealistic. As Pushkin said, "A great story must be a little... hmmm... 'glupovat'..." Perhaps 'dorky' would serve as a translation?

Ralph and Liv act beautifully. (I hadn't given Liv Tyler sufficient benefit of the doubt -- she understands her role and conveys such depth to it.) But I think first prize must go to the director for seeing this one clearly.