The three-hour saga of a family of Hungarian Jews by the name of Sonnenschein (trans., Sunshine) covers the better part of the 20th Century -- almost two and three-quarters hours just to get to 1956 -- and gives us three generations of Ralph Fiennes (roughly an hour for each), one with full beard and mustache, one with mustache only, and one with no more than a five o'clock shadow. Despite the changes in facial hair, it is sometimes hard to remember that Fiennes is three different people. And, in a very different way, it is sometimes hard to remember who some of the other characters are, when different actors take over the roles at different ages. And at all points there are high levels of theatricality among them: Jennifer Ehle, James Frain, Miriam Margolyes, Molly Parker, Rachel Weisz, Rosemary Harris, Deborah Kara Unger, William Hurt, and -- higher, higher, and highest -- Fiennes, Fiennes, and Fiennes. But it is a film of quality, with craftsmanly scripting and directing by Istvan Szabo (Mephisto, Colonel Redl), and an eventful and resonant and weighty narrative. And the unavoidable concentration-camp segment distinguishes itself with an uncommonly awful and poetic manner of death. (2000) — Duncan Shepherd
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