Madame
October 2000
By Nicole von Bredow
Translated by Crystal

Tuesday morning in a large London Advertising Agency, which is hidden at the back of a building in Soho. On the wall in the reception area hang numerous awards which have been won in recent years by individual members of the firm - one of whom is Martha Fiennes.

"Mrs. Fiennes begs your pardon," explains the receptionist, "but a meeting with a client will last another half hour." Martha Fiennes has created a stir in the firm with her campaigns and commercials for peach schnapps, tires and deodorants. Likely also because the 36-year-old is the sister of 37-year-old, Oscar nominated Hollywood star Ralph Fiennes. Together with him the award winning advertising lady has produced her first full-length feature film. Exactly 34 minutes later she is standing in the foyer, a smiling woman in a long velvet skirt and a fitted lambskin vest, which is decorated with pearls. Her brown hair is pulled back in a decorative plait at the nape of her neck. Striking is her large red painted mouth and her large green eyes. Martha Fiennes resembles her brother greatly: tall and slender, narrow face, straight nose and these fascinating eyes. And then she now also shares his professional ambitions.

Seven years ago Ralph Fiennes pressed into the hands of his sister (who was then still an enterprising film school student) a book, "Eugen Onegin" by Alexander Puschkin. "You have to read this book. One could make a great film of it." The plot: cynic Onegin has wasted away his inheritance, languishes in boredom until he meets the enchanting Tatjana through his friend Lenskij. She writes him the most beautiful love letter in Russian literature. But he rejects her cold-heartedly - a decision that he later bitterly regrets. "Onegin is an immeasurable egoist who is not able to recognize true love. A theme for today," comments Ralph.

Martha also fell prey to the magic of the novelist. However, to make a film from it - who would pay for it? Of course, Ralph at that time was one of the new hopes of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Martha was a much in demand director of commercials and video clips - yet the Puschkin project seemed hopeless.

Nevertheless, full of optimism, the siblings got together in fall 1992 to formulate a primary script outline. In 1999 the romantic melancholy film was finally finished (with Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler in the starring roles). The London premiere was a triumph for the young director. One month later she won a prize for direction at a Film festival in Tokyo. Now the film is coming to German cinemas.

In contrast to her brother, who is known for his silence, especially when it comes to his private life, Martha represents openness. She talks extensively about her family. No wonder that she is often asked about her brother. "Ralph is a person, who needs a lot of space. Even as a child he wanted a room into which he could withdraw in order to be able to read undisturbed. Normally Ralph is the most polite person in the world, but if one disturbs him when he is reading or listening to music, then he turns into a beast." She laughs. "A conversation with Ralph is always a pleasure, because he loves clever word games. But he certainly lacks the superficial politeness, which one needs for small talk. Moreover he is unbelievably generous. I know few people who give with so much love. It is as if he could read thoughts. This vest, for instance, was my nicest Christmas present." She tenderly strokes the soft leather. "Ralph knows women and has a particular flair. One can be sure that even in the case of a triviality he will be careful to find something extraordinary."

In addition to the attractive Ralph and Martha the clan boasts three other brothers and another sister. The friendly and uncomplicated Joseph, who earned his first film acting laurels with Shakespeare in Love" and Elizabeth, seems to form a marked contrast to the sensitive intellectual Ralph.

"Joseph is unbelievably charming and very funny, but his humor is less subtle than Ralph's." Martha hesitates. Has she said something negative about Joseph with that? She corrects herself on the spot. "Most people enjoy being around Joseph, because he has an utterly sociable manner. He is also very athletic and full of energy. But one shouldn't be fooled by Joseph - in spite of his charming manner he can be hard as nails. No one can make this stubborn guy do anything. Magnus my third brother, who is a composer, is completely different. He needs harmony and gives in more easily.

Martha quickly returns to talk of the man with whom she obviously shares a special mental accord: Brother Ralph. Many assume that behind what appears as his sensibilities hides mere shyness. "My brother Ralph shy?" Martha laughs. "My God, no. He only doesn't make the effort to affect interest out of politeness. And he is, as are most great artists, in the best sense selfish.

The assumption seems obvious that Ralph with Onegin wanted to help his sister get her career on the right track. Without him she would likely have found hardly any investors. If one asks Ralph Fiennes himself for his opinion about Martha's directorial debut, the praise in spite of all restraint sounds almost enthusiastic. "My sister grew up with two brothers who are active actors. The film medium has been familiar to her for a long time and she knows intuitively how one has to deal with a sensitive actor. Onegin is of course her first feature film, but it only took Martha two weeks to become comfortable in the milieu. Whether or not you believe me - she succeeded in drawing the best out of each actor," and thereby he smiles in his irresistible way so that one dares not doubt it.

The third family member who worked on Onegin was brother Magnus, who composed the film score.

Who could be surprised that sister Sophie is also working in the film industry? For a long time she was Director Peter Greenaway's assistant and now works as free theatre producer in London.

Their mother, Jini Fiennes can be "blamed" for this obsession for film. While other parents would groan, "For Pete's sake, don't you want to study something sensible?", Jini Fiennes was quite pleased when five of her six children chose artistic careers. Only Jake, Joseph's twin brother, took a different path. He works in Norfolk as a game keeper. A drop-out? "No, no," he says defensively, "our father was a farmer before he discovered his gift for photography. Possibly I inherited my love for nature from him." He emphasizes - believably so - that the hectic hubbub of the film industry is not for him. He in no way feels like the taillight in the Fiennes-clan - he doesn't feel left behind. "I know that there are moments in which my brothers would gladly trade places with me. For my part, I greatly enjoy being invited to their film premieres. Then their stressful life is played out in front of me - and I don't envy them it in the least."

Jake likes to reminisce on his parents' lives. Their life together began in 1961. Mark Fiennes and Jennifer "Jini" Lash were both guests at the home of mutual friends in Suffolk. They talked about art, literature - and congratulated Jini, whose first book, The Burial had just been published by the renowned Bloomsbury press. Mark was a modest man from the country, whose intellectual interests although he liked to read, didn't go much further than that. Nevertheless he fell head over heels in love with the attractive young author. "There are only few moments in life in which a man is completely certain," explains Mark Fiennes later, "but the meeting with Jini was one of them. I simply knew that this was the woman for my life."

"Naturally my father soon had doubts," comments Jake, "whether he was the right one for an intellectual." But Jini consoled her future husband. "'Don't worry about this writing business,' she explained to my father serenely. 'The only thing that I really want is a happy family - and many, many children.'"

After 18 months Jini and Mark married, within the next seven years they had six children. And there was also Michael, the foster son. Jini kept her word - for her family she gave up the career as novelist. That didn't just have to do with her love for Mark and the children, but also with her own problematic childhood. Jennifer Lash was the only child of an egocentric, emotionless mother and a father who fanatically doted on his daughter - for the child the environment of conflicting feelings was difficult to bear. Jini wanted to make everything different for her own children - to give them as much love and security as possible. Apparently she succeeded. "I am always very moved how my mother loved us and cared for us," says the normally laconic Ralph.

There may be no other family in the entire film industry that sticks together so tightly, in spite of all differences, which arise on account of different temperaments and highly contradictory life views. They themselves in no way see this "us-feeling" as something unusual. Sophie Fiennes: "Personally, I think it's completely normal. Especially when you consider that our mother had six children in only seven years. We are very close to one another in age, we all heard the same music and read the same books. In my childhood we were what one in England calls a "Bohemian family." That is an elegant way to say that we moved around the countryside like gypsies and never stayed in one house very long. All together we moved fifteen times." Television wasn't exactly promoted in the Fiennes household, Jini preferred reading, drawing and theatre. During the hard times she taught her children herself. Whenever they could afford it again, the children attended public schools. Nevertheless, Jini remained active in their upbringing. When, for example, one of her children had a part in a school presentation, she would drill his part with him.

"Our mother was our best critic," recalls Martha. "She praised and she criticized. Above all she could inspire us wonderfully. Without her none of us would have come so far."

After the children were grown and had left the house, Jini began to write again. In 1986 she was diagnosed with cancer. After a serious operation she undertook a pilgrimage to France and Spain. She wrote of her impressions in On Pilgrimage (published by Bloomsbury). Shortly before her death she completed yet another book, Blood Ties in which she described her childhood.

In December 1993 Jini Fiennes died. Until the end one of her children was constantly with her. "She didn't want to take any pain medications, because she hated not experiencing everything fully consciously. She raised us to see things as they really are."

Jennifer Lash's last book, Blood Ties was published posthumously. And as final homage to the mother, the "glorious five" as the stars of the Fiennes family are often called, made an extended reading tour through England. They visited even numerous small cities in order to make their mother's work known. "We can finally do something for her now."