" when will the devil take me ?
" he asks rhetorically in lulling voice over .
the spoiled title character of _ onegin _ ( pronounced oh - negg - in ) is waiting on death to relieve him after a lifetime of rapacious behaviour .
martha fiennes ' debut feature is ( quite literally ) filmed poetry
( it 's based on an epic russian poem by alexander pushkin ) , a profound study of regret , of how we confuse shame with guilt .
when we first meet eugene onegin ( ralph , acting for his sister ; another brother , magnus , composed the score ) , a philandering aristocrat from st .
petersburg , he has just inherited his uncle 's estate . with plans to sell it , onegin pays a summer visit to the manor , which is located in an underpopulated russian countryside , and not long into the trip he meets a neighbouring family of blue bloods .
smitten with olga larina ( headey ) , he befriends olga 's fianc ? , vladimir lensky ( stephens ) , while olga 's sister , tatyana ( tyler ) , romanticizing his flippant attitude ( he 's a nineteenth bad boy ) , falls for onegin .
in one sweaty , inky torrent of passion , tatyana writes him a love letter .
he is at least intrigued by the note but rejects her affections , it is implied , because he can .
soon after , tragedy strikes , and onegin makes himself scarce .
when we catch up with him , six years later , he has just returned to st .
petersburg , where at a grand ball he discovers that an old friend ( donovan ) has married a more womanly and wordly tatyana .
this time , onegin finds her irresistable .
what is most amazing about ralph fiennes ' performance is his subtle physical transformation from dashing snob to miserly grouch .
overwhelmed by a top hat , the onegin who pines for tatyana seems smaller in stature than the one who brushed her off , an ebeneezer scrooge trapped in christmas past .
the actor has been constricted playing heroes for too long now - there 's room to breathe in a role that 's made up of shades of gray like " onegin " .
petula clark sang of a universal phenomenon in " parking lot
" : " you do n't know what you 've got ?
til it 's gone .
" onegin 's about - face on tatyana speaks for those of us
( read : most of us ) who need confirmation that someone or something is wanted by others before we want it as well .
what the character feels is not jealousy but remorse , embarrassment , even , at having let her go .
out of identification we feel empathy for onegin , a callous bastard .
tatyana 's emotions echo a thousand ditties , but that makes them no less vital .
she changes , too , from a girl in crush to a woman with divided loyalties .
tyler acquits herself surprisingly well among her uk co - stars , filling in sketchy gaps by expressing base sentiments in a series of wanton stares .
they both have faces , mr .
fiennes and ms .
tyler , capable of conveying archetypal russian misery .
_ onegin _ could have added up to little more than a distinguished episode of " masterpiece theater " , even with its current cast of thoroughbreds intact , were martha fiennes not at the helm .
an mtv background ( she cut her teeth directing rock videos for xtc and others ) has positively influenced her sense of pace ( though , thankfully , not her shot lengths - no spasmodic cutting here ) ; at just over 100 minutes , _ onegin _ clicks along like a brisk walk through valleys of despair .
the film has an atypical period look , as well .
absent are the sumptuous tableware and antique furnishings that stand in for plot and character in those drippy merchant ivory productions .
the sets are almost expressionistically bare , echoing the loneliness of the protagonists .
( cinematographer remi adafarasin often allows space to engulf them ; i 'm reminded the climax , which unfolds in a sea of white . )
martha fiennes
has a clear command of cinema , and her spare , often painfully human visual presentation of " yevgeny onegin " is arguably the most lucid translation of pushkin 's difficult text yet .
ms .
fiennes may be the most exciting female presence behind a camera since jane campion .
clicks along like a brisk walk a profound study has a clear command of cinema acquits herself surprisingly well arguably the most lucid translation filmed poetry the most exciting female presence behind a camera