Onegin (film 1999) TRAILER ITALIANO HOME CINEMA TRAILER. Unsubscribe from HOME CINEMA TRAILER? Cancel Unsubscribe. Subscribe Subscribed Unsubscribe 4.2K.

`Onegin': A Cold Comeuppance in St. Petersburg December 22, 1999 FILM REVIEW `Onegin': A Cold Comeuppance in St. Petersburg Related Articles• Forum • By STEPHEN HOLDEN If the camera spends enough time contemplating an attractive face, isn't it bound eventually to uncover the mysteries of the Mona Lisa? That seems to be the guiding principle of the first-time director Martha Fiennes (Ralph's sister) in photographing Liv Tyler's scenes for the film 'Onegin.' In this rickety screen adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's verse novel 'Eugene Onegin,' Ms. Tyler is Tatyana, an enigmatic heartbreaker who reduces the arrogant, rakish title character (Mr. Fiennes) to a quivering wreck.

Samuel Goldwyn Films Ralph Fiennes portrays Evgeny Onegin, a dashing aristocrat who causes women to melt and men to grovel. But the longer the camera lingers over Ms. Tyler's impassive face, the less it discovers. There are no hidden pools of passion or wit, no tantalizing secrets lurking behind her blank, expressionless gaze. Late in the movie, when her eyes brim with tears, the only emotion Ms. Tyler conveys is the peevish frustration of a little girl who has misplaced her Barbie doll. Since 'Onegin' was made with a largely English cast, Ms.

Tyler is forced to affect an approximation of an English accent, and the effort only makes her performance seem all the more inert. The excruciating mismatch of Ms. Tyler, the celluloid equivalent of vanilla pudding, with Mr. Fiennes, the screen embodiment of restless, neurasthenic romanticism, is only one of many elements in 'Onegin' that feels out of balance. That mismatch fatally reduces a love story of Scarlett-and-Rhett dimensions to a portrait of an unlikely, not-very-compelling relationship foiled by bad timing. Almost everything that's good about 'Onegin' emanates from Mr.

Fiennes's complex portrayal of a wealthy, dashing aristocrat cursed by his propensity for boredom and his ability to see through every social facade. Of course, we've seen versions of this refined, overbred malcontent before in 'The English Patient,' 'The End of the Affair' and in Mr. Fiennes's cool, haughty profile-to-the-audience stage portrayal of 'Hamlet.' Onegin's impatient, know-it-all attitude along with his swashbuckling poet's sensibility cause women to melt before him and men to grovel for his approval.

When he inherits his uncle's vast estate, Onegin becomes the 1820's Russian equivalent of the master of the universe. The character is also something of a radical idealist with an urge to flout convention. Instead of running his country estate himself, he turns it over to his serfs to manage. But we never see the results of that decision, and the movie touches only glancingly on Onegin's unorthodox politics and social views. In matters of the heart Onegin is a cynic. While in the country settling his uncle's estate, he is befriended by a neighbor, Vladimir Lensky (Toby Stephens), who introduces him to his sweetheart, Olga (Lena Headey), and her younger sister, Tatyana (Ms. Both women are dazzled by Onegin.

But when Tatyana sends him a desperate letter declaring her passion, he rejects her and to Vladimir's chagrin perversely flirts with Olga. Blithely dismissing Olga as 'easy,' Onegin so insults Vladimir that the friends end up fighting a senseless and tragic duel. The story jumps ahead to find Onegin returning to St. Petersburg after six years of travel and soul searching. Tatyana is now comfortably married to Prince Nikitin (Martin Donovan) and lives in an enormous palace.