In the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Ignatz Sonnenschein (Fiennes
with beard) deals with anti-Semitism and a rocky marriage to his
cousin/adopted sister (Jennifer
Ehle). In World War II-era Hungary Ignatz’ son Adam (Fiennes with
mustache) deals with anti-Semitism and romantic overtures from his
brother’s hottie wife (Rachel Weisz). In Communist postwar Hungary
Adam’s son Ivan (Fiennes clean-shaven) deals with anti-Semitism and an
affair with a married comrade (Deborah Kara Unger). Get it? Things never
really change!
Fiennes can be a ferocious presence onscreen as he demonstrates in
isolated moments such as an electrifying bit when the usually
unemotional Ignatz suddenly explodes in anger at Harris’ character. For
the most part however the melodramatic dialogue (“Give me the salt
damn you!”) is more than even he or expert supporting players such as
Miriam Margolyes (“Romeo + Juliet”) and James Frain (“Hilary and
Jackie”) can sell. Oh and why are the Hollywood imports Unger and
William Hurt doing British accents?
Hungarian director Istvan Szabo’s soap opera-ish treatment of the
material would be hard enough to take in a standard-length feature but
this sucker clocks in at a butt-punishing three hours. With its
sputtering storyline and routine visual approach the film certainly
provides no competition to Vittorio De Sica’s similarly themed 1971
masterpiece “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.” As Fiennes vehicles go
this one is closer to the laughably bad “The Avengers” than “Schindler’s
List.”
