Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

t-a-shnitko I do understand that any film director has an own vision, but o my God!!!, this is an example of "misunderstanding" of Pushkin's poetry! First of all, the music used in the movie has nothing to do with Pushkin's time (XVIII-XIX century). Olga's song (Oh the Viburnum Blooms) is a very popular Soviet song written in 1949. The main theme of the movie is an interpretation of "On The Hills Of Manchuria" written in 1906 to memory of those who died during war with Japan, updated with gypsy guitar in this movie. Pushkin died in 1837, there is no way the movie's music corresponds to the Russian XVIII-XIX century culture or the poem's characters. Secondly, the most important elements of the poem like Tatiana's letter to Onegin, for example, are washed out of the movie. Tatiana is a 17-years old girl in love, the all her passion is in that letter!!! Then, why this movie is so dark? If authors thought about the poem as a tragedy (I associate the darkness with tragedy), then Tatiana shouldn't had to be married to such a handsome fellow like Martin Donovan in the movie. Based on the book,her husband was old and badly injured during a war. I stop criticizing the movie here, as there are different opinions and some of them a quite positive.

darrhling A truly spectacular film with so many visual, psychological and melancholy delights that it is hard to know whom or what to praise more. Ralph Fiennes executes a stunning performance as the aloof, sarcastic disillusioned aristocrat managing a performance which combines a great deal of emotion and extreme surface passivity; Liv Tyler is at her most beautiful in one of her best performances to date as the poignant Tatiana who, as the film unfolds, evolves from passionate idealism into resignation and honour; and Martha Fiennes proves herself as part and parcel of the elite group of great directors... The filming is of high quality; a lot of very English wit and charm. A film which will appeal to those who enjoy BBC dramatisations, classics such as Cate Blanchett's performance in Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love, etc.Enjoy!

Boris Todorov Russians consider Pushkin's "Evgenii Onegin" one of the peaks of their literature, but to British drama actors/directors/composers Fiennes the work remained just a curiosity which could be easily brought to screen for a nice, and unambitious family project. Where Russian readers and western students of Russian culture see a vision of the decadence of Russian aristocracy, and a condemnation of the Ancien Regime, both in social, and cultural terms, the Fiennes saw a nice romantic interlude. The limited scope of the filmmakers'interest explains why the movie is successful in just one aspect - the two love scenes between Onegin and Larina are great, actually much better than what Russian actors would perform in the place of Fiennes and Tyler. But that's that. Everything else, including the duel, or the scandal between Lensky and Onegin, is dull, insipid and rather un-Russian. Fiennes obviously misunderstood the meaning of being "tired of life". Pushkin's Onegin was not a self-centered, self-sufficient and utterly satisfied English gentleman who speaks patronizingly to everyone in the country because "he knows things". He was a model for generations of Russian "malcontents": in a rigidly conservative society playing the "tired of life" was a social stand, not a psychological state. Onegin was a passionate man and his aloofness was a deliberate pretense (not that much different from Hamlet's delusive craziness). In short, the Fienneses had better screen a romantic drama without referring to Pushkin's masterpiece. Their movie is nice, watchable and enjoyable (well, Liv Tyler stars in it!), but their rendition of Pushkin's characters is so dissatisfying, the great poet might easily take offense.

Armitaged This is one of the best period films to come out of the industry in 1999. I think Liv Tyler really showed her acting chops in this work, and Ralph is extraordinary in practically anything he does. Don't miss seeing Toby Stephens and Lena Headey as Vladimir and Olga. I saw this movie on tv a few years ago and I still can't forget how beautifully-done it was. It is incredibly under-rated and deserved more accolades than it received. I highly recommend this film because it has lush scenery, great and powerful performances, and a truly unforgettable story. "If you but knew the flames that burn in me which I attempt to beat down with my reason. " -onegin