BEHIND TRANSLUCENT `ONEGIN,' NOTHING'S THERE.

Byline: Reed Johnson Staff Writer

``Pale and paler'' might be one way to describe the color scheme for ``Onegin,'' Martha Fiennes' visually haunting but dramatically anemic treatment of Alexander Pushkin's early 19th-century verse novel ``Evgeny Onegin.''

This is a movie that sees its feverishly romantic subject in chilly, washed-out tones: The blinding, icy wastes of the Russian steppes; the eerie, pallid interiors of old St. Petersburg houses; the milky, almost translucent faces of the movie's stars, Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler, whose features appear to such dazzling effect here that they might've been sculpted in alabaster.

Indeed, director Fiennes has swathed Pushkin's lyricized tale of a naive girl's unrequited love and a cynical man's tragically belated conversion in an atmosphere so emotionally muted that at times the movie actually falls completely silent. It's as if the filmmakers feared that the story's few instances of raw emotional outburst might shatter the mood of somber introspection they've worked so hard to create. In the end, it's the absence of emotional frisson between its two leads that makes ``Onegin'' come apart.

An enduringly popular piece of literature that Tchaikovsky converted into an opera, ``Evgeny Onegin'' is often described as Byronic. But its hero, a jaded, erotically repressed young man whose citified life changes irrevocably when he inherits his uncle's country estate, distinctly lacks the Byronic antihero swagger.

As played by Ralph Fiennes, the torturously debonair British leading man who also happens to be the director's brother, Onegin initially seems like any other semi-aristocratic fop leading a life of idle debauchery in Russia's most Europeanized city.

Only after he relocates to the provinces does Onegin reveal a subtle cast of mind, along with some vaguely leftist political leanings.

``Serfdom is a feudal practice - no civilized society should condone it,'' he declares at a dinner party, much to the dismay of the local gentry.

The only person who doesn't recoil is Onegin's new next-door neighbor's beautiful youngest daughter, Tatyana Larin (Liv Tyler), a spirited, bookish young woman who quickly develops an infatuation with the enigmatic young bachelor.

Onegin also strikes up a joshing friendship with Lensky (Toby Stephens), a robust poet-outdoorsman who's engaged to Tatyana's more sedate older sister, Olga (Lena Headey). While these and the other secondary characters are generally well-performed, they don't leave deep impressions.

Because ``Evgeny Onegin'' is by now a hoary classic, it gives away nothing to reveal that Onegin, hardening his already frosty heart, rejects Tatyana's passionate advances. Soon after, he kills Lensky in a duel precipitated by Onegin's contemptuous treatment of Olga, then flees into exile.

Upon returning to St. Petersburg six years later, he rediscovers a very grown-up Tatyana, only to realize too late that he has squandered his best chance at happiness in life.

Although director Fiennes and cinematographer Remi Adefarasin succeed in finding some striking poetic imagery to match Pushkin's verse, the movie also resorts to such gimmicky strategies as shooting the actors in slow-motion and/or minus the soundtrack - awkward, repetitious gestures that don't enhance meaning.

More seriously, the film is undercut by Tyler's severely limited range. Plausible enough as a passionate virgin in ``Stealing Beauty,'' her screen breakthrough, this young actress lacks the technical maturity to pull off Tatyana's transition from country bumpkin to the sophisticated woman of means who later brings Onegin literally to his knees. The character's nuances elude Tyler, and the movie flatlines.

Required to play opposite what is essentially a beautiful mannequin, Fiennes' performance - dryly witty and carefully measured at first - grows attenuated and overly mannered. By film's end, he's reduced to thin smiles and eyes full of painful longing - understandable reactions to a sadly squandered opportunity.

The facts

The film: ``Onegin'' (Not rated; brief graphic violence).

The stars: Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Martha Fiennes. Written by Michael Ignatieff and Peter Ettedgui, based on the verse novel by Alexander Pushkin. Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn.

Running time: One hour, 46 minutes.

Playing: Westside Pavilion Cinema in West L.A.

Our rating: Two stars.

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Photo

Photo: Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler star in ``Onegin,'' directed by Martha Fiennes and based on Alexander Pushkin's verse novel.