Ralph Fiennes (right) appears with conductor Semyon Bychkov during curtain calls after his opera directing debut of Tchaikovky’s “Eugene Onegin” at the Palais Garnier on Monday in Paris. The Associated Press

PARIS — Ralph Fiennes ‘ vision of “Eugene Onegin” was cinematic.

A three-time Academy Award nominee and a Tony Award winner, Fiennes made his opera directing debut Monday at the Paris Opera’s ornate Palais Garnier. Using bright lighting near the proscenium as other characters receded to the rear in faded illumination, he controlled focus as a movie director determining the audience’s view.

“It became clear that his priorities are quite cinematic as if everything is kind of in close up,” mezzo-soprano Susan Graham said.

Based on Alexander Pushkin’s 1833 novel, “Onegin” was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a libretto the composer co-wrote with Konstantin Shilovsky. Baritone Boris Pinkhasovich stars as Onegin, soprano Ruzan Mantashyan as Tatyana and tenor Bogdan Volkov as Lensky. The entire 11-performance run through Feb. 27 is sold out. France TV will broadcast the opera on Feb. 9.

Conductor Semyon Byckov, announced three weeks ago as Paris Opera’s music director starting in August 2028, picked Fiennes to direct, writing in a text message: “Ralph is an immense actor and director, with a profound connection to Russian culture.”

“I was shocked, delighted and scared — principally delighted,” Fiennes said during a Jan. 6 public discussion. “My history with `Eugene Onegin’ goes back to when I was an acting student and the librarian of our academy, who was also a teacher, suggested I read Pushkin’s novel in verse in English because the character might appeal to me, maybe for an audition piece. I read it. I was completely transfixed by the poem and the character.”

A history with Pushkin

Fiennes portrayed the title character in the 1999 movie “Onegin,” directed by his sister Martha and co-starring Liv Tyler. He also directed “The White Crow,” a 2018 film about ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

“His telephone call woke up my love, or reawoke my love of Pushkin but of course, opera was new to me,” Fiennes said of Bychkov. “I had an instinctive feeling that with Semyon’s support and guidance I could take it on.”

Fiennes, 63, stars in the recently released movies “The Choral” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” and he returns to London theater in April with David Hare’s “Grace Pervades.”

He had seen director’s Rimas Tuminas’ stage dramatization of the Pushkin novel that portrayed the title character and Lensky simultaneously as two people, young and old. Fiennes decided to set the opera in the 1830s.

“If I tried to find a 20th or 21st century parallel, I felt I would be contriving something,” he said. “I didn’t go through some long analysis or philosophical dissection. I followed my gut.”

Rehearsals started Dec. 1 and moved on stage Jan. 9, just 2 1/2 weeks before the opening

“The process is very fast and very, very messy and some people are very surprised by that,” Levine said. “I think maybe it’s helpful having me around saying: Don’t worry. Just keep pushing, keep working on all this time and detail and moving forward.”

Fiennes’s final vision was the shattered Onegin, collapsed, sobbing and clutching the shawl he had grabbed from Tatyana during their confrontation — the same shawl she had worn when they first met.