Onegin (1999)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Martha Fiennes

Writers:

Peter Ettedgui (screenplay)
Alexander Pushkin (poem) ...

Release Date:

5 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

In the opulent St. Petersburg of the Empire period, Eugene Onegin is a jaded but dashing aristocrat - a man often lacking in empathy...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Friend | Adultery | Soldier | Horse Drawn Sleigh Carriage

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Ralph Fiennes	...	Onegin
Liv Tyler	...	Tatyana
Toby Stephens	...	Lensky
Lena Headey	...	Olga
Martin Donovan	...	Prince Nikitin
Alun Armstrong	...	Zaretsky
Simon McBurney	...	Triquet
Harriet Walter	...	Madame Larina
Jason Watkins	...	Guillot
Irene Worth	...	Princess Alina
Gwenllian Davies	...	Anisia
Margery Withers	...	Nanya
Geoffrey McGivern	...	Audrey Petrovitch
Tim McMullan	...	Dandy 1
Tim Potter	...	Dandy 2

Also Known As:

Eugene Onegin (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brief violence and a sexual image.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | USA:R | South Korea:18 | Brazil:Livre | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | New Zealand:M | Spain:7 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Alresford, Hampshire, England, UK

Company:

7 Arts International

Trivia:

The song played at Tatiana's Naming Day feast is "On the Hills of Manchuria". It is not a folk song. It was written in 1906 by Ilya Shatrov, bandmaster of 214 Mokshansky infantry regiment, after tragical events of Russian-Japanese war.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Ortodox Tatiana's Naming Day is January 26, but it is summertime in the movie.

Quotes:

Evgeny Onegin: Can't you see where this leads? A declaration, a kiss, a wedding, family, obligation, boredom, adultery.

Movie Connections:

Version of Evgeniy Onegin (1984) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Mir ist so wunderbar

A landmark masterpiece, had it been spoken in Russian.

This film is wonderful and beautiful. I was impressed with the amount of user comments, considering the film has not been very popular, and in the Americas, hardly seen, and bashed by critics. It is an almost perfect film rendition of this classic literary work. I recently saw an acclaimed production of the opera Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, and have read Russian literature. This film is a more complete, and captivating experience than the opera or the original verse novel (in translation). However, the true Russian spirit cannot be captured with the entire cast speaking in Etonian British accents. The film should have been released (even in English speaking countries) completely synchronized in Russian (I prefer to say synchronized since the actors in any film are dubbed, the word is very negative, by themselves anyway). Some of the original verses could have been included. The wonderful score by Magnus Fiennes should have been complemented by Tchaikovsky (and not German Beethoven) music, preferably from the newly-popular Onegin opera. With those (very important) revisions, the film would have been the finest example of Russian literature ever brought to the screen.