onegin the film

[Pavel Samsonov]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Francoise Rosset" <frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU>
To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 10:42 AM
Subject: Re: onegin the film


> >has anyone seen the recent (i believe american) film called onegin?
>
> I have mixed feelings about it; it is often visually gorgeous,
> looks authentic enough, and there are some fascinating scenes.
> (Onegin's careful dressing, including his corset; some perfectly
> played vicious society gossips).
> But it lacks any spark of passion, it's truly bloodless. Liv Tyler
> seems all wrong for Tatyana, though to be fair *any* flesh-and-blood
> Tatyana would collide with our imagined versions.
> All the Russians I know hate it ... Maybe some Russians have a more
> positive opinion?
> -FR

There is some "kl'ukva" (false stereotyping, wrong portraying of Russia):
for example, they play and sing "Oj, tsvetet kalina v pole u ruch'ja" - the
song that was actually composed (I believe by Dunajevski) in the mid
1930's... This irritates.

But I can say that on the whole the movie was made with love. Yes, some
scenes are absolutely gorgeous.

But the main problem is that Pushkin's poetry and its special beauty and
chemistry which is sacred for most Russian is not translatable into any
other form or art. Not into the movie format, even in its best form.

pavel

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