The Last Station

The Last Station is a lovely and most interesting film about the last year of the life of the great Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer). The film is written and directed by Michael Hoffman from a novel (based on fact) by Jay Parini.

Tolstoy has many disciples who follow his beliefs and he also has many detractors. The head of the movement, Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) is trying to get Tolstoy to sign over the rights to his work to the public. This would leave his family with very little. On this side of the conflict is Tolstoy's daughter Sasha (Anne-Marie Duff). Against this idea is his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren). Somewhere in the middle is Tolstoy's secretary Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy). Rounding out this mix is a "follower" named Masha who woos Valentin out of his celibacy.

The film does a fine job painting these last days of the master. It is also the chronicle of a long marriage. All of the actors are terrific. However, as good as everyone is the film belongs to Mirren and Plummer. Mirren is one of the great acting queens of the day and her performance is certainly more Oscar worthy than frontrunner Sandra Bullocks fine but not outstanding performance in The Blind Side. Plummer has been around forever and it is hard to believe that he has gotten his first nomination at the age of 80 but it is well deserved. The film is lovely to look at and has some very witty dialogue.

The Last Station is a true cinematic treat and I highly recommend it to those of you who like literate and literary films.

Edit: I forgot to mention that at the end of the film there were pictures of the real Tolstoy and the other characters in the film. I really enjoyed seeing the pictures and I must say that Plummer certainly looked like the real Tolstoy.