On Thursday, March 7, cinemas begin showing the film “Onegin”, based on the novel in verse by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”.
The director was Sarik Andreasyan, and Alexey Gravitsky took on the script adaptation of the literary work.
Previously, the filmmakers worked together on the projects “Life on Call”, “Chikatilo”, “Unforgiven” and others.
The main roles were played by Viktor Dobronravov and Lisa Moryak.
The film also stars Denis Prytkov (Vladimir Lensky), Tatyana Sabinova (Olga Larina), Alena Khmelnitskaya (Praskovya Larina), Vladimir Vdovichenkov (narrator) and others.
In terms of plot, the film adaptation follows the original source as closely as possible, with a discount on the film format.
The viewer meets the nobleman Evgeny Onegin, who is tired of social life and is looking with all his might for at least some kind of entertainment.
Having learned about the illness of his rich uncle, he, the only heir, leaves St. Petersburg and goes to his village.
A relative dies, and the main character decides to stay and soon meets his neighbors - the interesting, well-educated Vladimir Lensky and the Larin family, in which there are two girls of marriageable age.
Lensky falls in love with the youngest, Olga, and Tatyana begins to experience romantic feelings for Onegin.
Still from the film “Onegin”
© kinopoisk.ru
All the key moments of the novel in the film are preserved and shown with almost no omissions.
The appearance of a narrator on the screen turned out to be a good decision.
His image is quite controversial for cinema in general - it looks strange when a third person suddenly appears in an emotional scene and, looking into the camera, begins to comment on what is happening - but appropriate in this case, since it helped to at least partially preserve the poetry of the original source and convey some thoughts .
“Eugene Onegin” is a rather difficult novel for film adaptation, including because of the language and meanings hidden between the lines.
In the new film version, much is inevitably lost, which is why such important moments as the origin of Tatyana’s love, the reason for the duel between Onegin and Lensky, and the transformation of the heroes as a whole elude the viewer.
Of course, the vast majority of viewers, even before watching the film, have a rough idea of what is happening there, how and why, but the omission of important nuances does not contribute to immersion in what is happening on the screen.
The narrative is successfully diluted by scenes in which Tatiana and Evgeniy write letters to each other - in dynamic episodes, vivid emotions gush from the screen, and the influxes of action-style cameras and intense editing that enhance them remain in the memory for a long time.
What is memorable and refreshing is the picture and Tatyana’s dream, which is dark, frightening and almost takes the melodrama into the horror genre.
It seems that at this moment the filmmakers, forced to limit their creative impulses in favor of the classics, were able to give free rein to their imagination.
At the same time, it’s nice that the author’s findings do not contradict Pushkin’s text, but only quite successfully translate it into the field of cinema.
After the names of the leading actors were announced, only the lazy did not note that Viktor Dobronravov and Lisa Moryak do not correspond in age to their heroes.
Sarik Andreasyan explained that such a decision was made consciously, since “life and age criteria have changed a lot, and the previous 25 years are today’s 40.”
But, nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in the sincerity of the feelings of adults and clearly much more experienced heroes than Pushkin’s.
On-screen Tatiana does not seem like a frivolous girl who fell in love because the time had come.
But the awakening of Onegin’s interest in her at the moment when Larina turns out to be a married rich princess, in this case seems even more understandable.
Due to the age gap, or simply the difference in mentality, it seems that some actors are uncomfortable in their images.
The most harmonious are Alena Khmelnitskaya, as well as Tatyana Sabinova - her Olga turned out to be an absolutely charming young lady of the 19th century, completely corresponding to the book heroine.
Still from the film “Onegin”
© kinopoisk.ru
The visuals of the film are as expected.
The action takes place in historical interiors and beautiful alleys, along which characters walk in authentic outfits.
Classical instrumental music plays from the screen - one composition is more beautiful than the next, and all of them subtly tell the audience what feelings they should experience at one time or another.
From time to time phrases in French are heard.
The picture is verified to the smallest detail, shot in the best traditions of film adaptations of classics: languid glances of the heroes into the distance, emotional scenes under a spreading tree, when the breeze artistically moves the leaves and strands of the beauty that have escaped from the hairstyle, the sun’s glare on the face of the pensive hero, the “accidental” touch of the fingers, behind which Almost an electric discharge follows...
“Onegin” is good as a picture that will help refresh the memory of the classics, and it will certainly appeal to those who expect the most literal, almost documentary transmission of the original source from the film adaptation.
Moreover, the authors of the film really tried, without distorting anything, to make the literary text cinematic and interesting, including to a young audience accustomed to the high dynamics of the narrative.
The reason for some of the shortcomings lies not in the shortcomings of the authors of Onegin, but in the features of the original source, which is very difficult to adapt.
After all, cinema is an independent work of art, even if it is based on a book, with its own techniques, rules and artistic value, and sometimes its tools are not enough to convey everything that was intended in literature.