Rating: 
Summary: Truly awful!
Review: The roles have been so poorly miscast that this movie is simply unbearable to watch. Liv Tyler is insufferable as Tatyana, completely out of her realm in capturing the nuances of this character. Fiennes is a good actor but is too old to play Onegin, who was barely past 20 and had an affected sense of disattachment with society as a prvileged young son of Russian society would. The movie trudges along trying to fill in the scenes with an insipid dialog that hardly does the poetic novel justice. The verse novel was written mostly in the third person with very little dialog, which would force any film maker into constructing much of it, but here we see a lovely novel reduced to the level of soap opera. Do yourself a favor and read the novel rather than waste an insufferable two hours watching this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent translation
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A moving treatment of Russia's greatest poem.
Review: This film of Pushkin's famous tragedy is the lasting memorial to the Pushkin Bicentennial celebrations of the last year. The film left me emotionally crushed. My (Russian) wife could hardly speak afterwards. The audience were in tears throughout the film. Though, neither through 'syrupy' nor cynical plot twists, but through the freshness of the acting and the awful tragedy of Onegin's life. Onegin initially appears as a wealthy sybarite dandy in Petersburg's 'belle societie'. His morals and emotions have declined to a point where his life has neither meaning nor direction. Living , for him, becomes nauseatingly predictable and painful. Startled by the innocence of a young and intelligent provincial lady (Tatjana) that he meets on his (rarely-visited) country estate, he experiences a profound change in his attitude towards his life. Tatjana distantly views Onegin as a graceful man-of-letters who could lead her into a new glittering life away from the provinces. Now, enter Tatjana's local admirer, a jealous and compulsive man, and a breathtakingly beautiful flirty young woman who also wishes to escape the provinces. Tragedy ensues, spread over time and distance. Now watch the film.. Ralph Fiennes' style of acting puts me in mind of Anthony Hopkins' Shadowlands: that is, expressing withheld emotions through his eyes. Liv Tyler shouldn't be maligned, she is a fine Tatjana and handles the role well. It's true that some of the props and scenes are not representative of Pushkin's time. But they in no way distract from the film. My Russian collegues loved the film especially Ralph Fiennes who has become quite the celebrity in Russia through the film. Though he is also known for his Almeida Chekhov interpretations. My thanks to the crew and actors for this wonderful film.
Rating: 
Summary: It's alright!
Review: This is a movie i never heard of. I love Liv Tyler and she is so beautiful in it. But the lack of love and romance made it boring for me. I really, really wanted to like this movie. But of course i don't like it very much and now i want to get rid of it :( So that's why i give it a 3, not enough smooching!
Rating:
Summary: Splendid and inspired
Review: This is a truly wonderful film. It is an adaptation of the 19th century romantic poem by Alexander Pushkin about the tragic love affair between Evgeny Onegin (Ralph Fiennes) and Tatyana Larina (Liv Tyler). Evgeny has inherited his uncle's provincial estate and goes to the country to put his affairs in order. While there, he befriends Vladimir (Toby Stevens) who introduces him to Tatyana, the sister of his fiancé. Tatyana falls madly in love with Evgeny, but he brutally rejects her and leaves to return to St. Petersburg. Upon returning years later to find her married, his regrets ignite into a passionate and obsessive love for her. There has been some criticism of the fact that this film was produced by Ralph Fiennes to give a project to his sister Martha (director) and brother Magnus (original music). Well, if this is the high quality wrought from Fiennes nepotism, we need more such collaborations. In her feature film directorial debut, Martha Fiennes gives us outstanding imagery, precise period renderings, innovative camera work, and dramatic lighting. The sets, locations, costumes and props were fabulous. I especially loved the furniture. The scenes on the dock by the mill in the fog were eerie and chilling. One shot of Liv Tyler in a rowboat, shot through out-of-focus reeds in the foreground, was pure art. The extreme close-up of the inking of the love letter added to the power of the emotions being written. Remi Adefarasin ('Elizabeth') added wondrous cinematography to the list of filmmaking kudos. Ralph Fiennes delivers another superb performance as Evgeny. In the early scenes, he is cavalier, self absorbed, and arrogant to the point of being despicable. His stoical dismissal of Tatyana was ice cold. In the later scenes, he delivers a character so pathetically tormented by love that he wins back our sympathies. This is by far the best performance I have seen by Liv Tyler. She was poised, graceful and lovely, and gave an extremely dignified performance. With this role, she has proven that she can move beyond the troubled teen type and play a character with substance. This is intelligent and inspired filmmaking. I rated it a 9/10. The pacing is deliberate, so action junkies will want to pass on this film. However, for those who can savor a compelling love story with splendid imagery, this film should not be missed.
Rating:
Summary: flawless cinematic masterpiece
Review: This is one of the best films ever made; it got shafted by critics & never opened in most US cities. But the Fiennes family really got it right-- a wonderful interpretation of the Pushkin masterpiece. Ralph acts & produces, Martha directs, Magnus writes an amazing score that you'd swear was authentically Russian. Amazing location, sets, costumes, script, casting, acting (see Liv Tyler bloom before your very eyes!), plot, cinematography & music!! For fans of Jane Austen-based films, or other stories that have virtuous, rather than happy, endings. See the film, read the poem, impress your friends. (Pronounced awn-nyay-ghin).
Rating:
Summary: Master work of Pushkin
Review: This movie pictured Pushkin's poem in the best possible way. This movie takes you down to the 19th century Russia.
As tailored as Liv Tylor was for this role, I had hard time believing that she is not originally russian! And my all time favorite actor, Ralph Fiennes, did a great performance as well.
Rating:
Summary: lavish and wintry
Review: This movie was my inspiration for reading Pushkin's exquisite verse novel "Eugene Onegin". I am usually familiar with a book before seeing it as a movie, but this time I was fortunate enough to see the film without having all my usual pre-decided notions that it could never live up to the book. That said, the film NATURALLY doesn't live up to the book. A witty, Austenesque, slightly tragic Russian story is never going to quite make it on screen while maintaning every bit of the literary integrity we'd like it to. However, this film is gorgeous all by itself, and having seen it before reading the book, I can vouch for it being an excellent visual feast of obsessive love in two acts. If you've never read it, enjoy the opportunity to see the film as a FILM, and not an adaptation. In act one, Tatyana is in love with Eugene and we are treated to beautiful cinemetography as well as the BEST dueling scene I have ever witnessed in a film. The costuming and stunning outdoor locale (on location in Russia!) is turns crisp and cool, foggy and eerie, wintry and lavish. Liv Tyler as Tatyana gives, quite simply, the best performance she's ever given. Very Pushkin. Very...Russian. (Who knew?) I have a big crush on Ralph Fiennes on account of this film. As the title role of Eugene Onegin, he delivers a very cynical performance that is very chilly without being downright cold. The end of the duel scene is a wonderful bit of acting where we see that Onegin is truly a person, capable of the emotion we see later in the film. By "act two", the obsessive love has changed hands, and we see Onegin a changed man. "Onegin" is a beautiful portrait of a couple that never quite IS a "couple", and an unsurpassed tale of passionate, unrequited love. The movie retains its Russian roots and fulfills all the requirements of a period drama, but maintains the integrity of the original slightly tragic ending and through superb pacing and tension, allows the viewer to take from it what means the most to them. Excessive action and dialogue never stifles the sweeping poetry of the film.
Watch it, especially if you are unfamiliar with Pushkin's original work... it will inspire you to seek it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh snore!
Review: This video is simply horrible! I had to keep pinching myself to stay awake with this dud. The story had potential to be a good movie, but the way it was acted, (Extremely overly-dramatic) and the way it was put together, (The whole "mood" was very depressing) it just didn't make it. I'll give it one star for women's costumes, and because it was fairly clean. If anyone is in the mood for a extremely boring, ... show, this is it! Oh by the way, how come all the actors have english accents when they are supposed to be Russian? (Just a thought...)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Adaptation
Review: This was one of the best Russian novel adaptation I have ever seen so far. The beautiful cinematography, music and the superb acting by Ralph Fiennes, which have the viewers the added depth and the complexity that was not apparent from the simple plot of the book. I love the way the book was adapted and I strongly recommend this film to anyone who appreciates the raw beauty and irony in most Russian Literature. Fantastic film!
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