The Last Station

Plot synopsis:
In 1910, the last year of Leo Tolstoy's life, his disciples, led by Vladimir Chertkov, manoeuvre against his wife, Sofya, for control over Tolstoy's works after his death. The main setting is the Tolstoy country estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy and Sofya have had a long, passionate marriage, but his spiritual ideals and asceticism (he is opposed, for example, to private property) are at odds with her more aristocratic and conventionally religious views.
Contention focuses on a new will that the "Tolstoians" are attempting to persuade him to sign. It would place all of his copyrights into the public domain, supposedly leaving his family without adequate support. The maneuvering is seen through the eyes of Tolstoy's new secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, who finds himself mediating between the two sides. He also has a love affair with one of the Tolstoians, Masha.
Ultimately, Tolstoy signs the new will and travels to an undisclosed location where he can continue his work undisturbed. After his departure, Sofya unsuccessfully attempts suicide. During the journey, Tolstoy falls ill. The film ends with his death near the Astapovo train station where Sofya is allowed by their daughter to see him just moments before his death. The closing credits state that five years after his death the Russian senate reverted the copyrights of Tolstoy's work to Sofya.

Tags: romantic, avant garde, philosophical

Review:
This was an excellent historical film based on the relationship between Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) and his wife, Sofya (Helen Mirren), during Tolstoy's final years.
The main tension comes between Vladimir, who wants Tolstoy to bequeath his copyrights to "The Russian People" and Sofya, who naturally would like the copyrights reserved for herself and family.Mirren earned an Oscar nomination for Lead Actress and Plummer received one for Supporting Actor.
Not by a long shot.The film follows the story of Leo (Christopher Plummer) and Sofya Tolstoy (Helen Mirren), married couple for 43 years, and the battle that raged between them at the end of Leo's life.
Despite its impressive cast and juicy subject, something about it just doesn't quite click.Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren play Leo Tolstoy and his wife in the days leading up to the writer's death, and the tumultuous relationship they shared, she feeling brushed aside by the author because of his commitment to his work and the Tolstoyan movement that developed around it.
James MacAvoy plays a young man who scores the job of being Tostoy's assistant and becomes witness to this domestic drama and an unwitting accomplice to the machinations of Tolstoy's close friend and business adviser (Paul Giamatti) to wrest copyright of Tolstoy's works away from his wife upon the writer's death.
But I simply didn't care as much about his character as I did Tolstoy and his wife, and I spent the whole film itching for the screenplay to give Plummer and Mirren, two great British actors, more to do.Paul Giamatti's character is oily and unlikable; indeed, there's something about Giamatti the actor that I find unlikable in general and actually makes it hard for me to watch him.
Towards the end of his life Tolstoy wants to give his money to the people which brings about a conflict with this wife who understandably wants some money for herself and the children.Of all the things to focus on, you basically have a movie about a great writer's fanaticism manipulated by the misguided Paul Giamatti into an ugly fight about money with his wife which hastens his death.
A young man,Valentin Bulgakov (played by James McAvoy)is hired by Vladimir Chertkov (played by Paul Giametti,adding a touch of class to his already impressive backlog of film work),who oversees the written work of Count Tolstoy,to spy on him at his commune/ashram in the Russian country side,in the guise of Tolstoy's personal secretary.
Bulgakov arrives to find a homestead overseen by the Tolstoy's,Leo (played to perfection by veteran,Christopher Plummer,who has come a long way since 'The Sound Of Music'),and his wife,Sofya (Helen Mirren-always welcome on screen).
"Your works are the birthright of the Russian people." Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) in The Last StationLike Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Leo Tolstoy drifted at the end of his life into spiritualism but of a more naturalistic kind, which disavowed materialism, espoused celibacy, and talked about the simple power of love.
Michael Hoffman's The Last Station chronicles in historical drama fashion Tolstoy's (Christopher Plummer) struggle with his wife, Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), over his desire to bequeath his works to the Russian people and thus, as she thought, deny her and her family rightful inheritance.The film has an operatic tone due in large part to Mirren's occasional histrionics as she argues with Tolstoy and faces off Chertkov, Tolstoy's close friend and a force for the Tolstoyan movement, which espoused the writer's philosophy of austere life, feeling at times like a stripped down transcendentalism popular in 19th century America.
The American director Michael Hoffman, in adapting Jay Prini's semi-factual novel about the last year in the life of the great 19th century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, makes as his central character not the famous author but his wet behind the ears 23 year old secretary Valentin who is hired by Count Tolstoy's devout admirer Vladimir Chertkoff to both work for Tolstoy and spy on the countess, Sofya.
She is not sympathetic to her aging husband's anarcho-Christian leanings, nor to the movement based on his philosophy, and fears the family will be deprived of the benefit of Tolstoy's copyrights.Valentin, played fetchingly by James McAvoy, is a bewildered witness to the crisis in the stormy relationship between Tolstoy and his wife, which results in Tolstoy fleeing Sofya and his estate, only to die at a lonely railway station many miles away, with the world's media (such as it was in 1910) looking on.
It is the relationship between Leo (Lev) and Sofya that provides the real drama here, and the final scenes between them are genuinely moving.Helen Mirren as the histrionic Sofya is alone worth the price of admission and Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy is convincing, though he demonstrates a lot more personal warmth than the real Tolstoy apparently did.
"The Last Station" from 2009 looks at the last months of Leo Tolstoy's life.Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) finds his relationship with his wife of nearly 40 years, Sofya (Helen Mirren) untenable.
Moreso than for him, his wife Sofya, the Countess (Helen Mirren), likes the possessions they have earned, and knows all about Tolstoy's real history, since they'd been together almost 50 years.Enter a few other characters like Valentin (James McAvoy) as his young, exuberant, celibate Secretary, Masha (Ann Marie Duff)a rebellious Tolstoyan living in the community, and mostly Cherkov (Paul Giamatti), kind of like Tolstoy's consigliere from the Godfather films, who is driving the expansion and business side of Tolstoy's movement.The major thrust of the story is the constant conflict between the triangle of Tolstoy vs Sofya his wife, who is fighting against Chertkov, who tries to get Valentin involved as his "spy" of the inner Tolstoy circle.
He basically let this talented group live the story, and guided it to a well-oiled finale.The one area that was so-so was the cinematography, which was nothing special because most of the scenes took place in two areas - the Tolstoy castle home and the village community, with some fleeting scenes in Moscow.Overall,the Last Station is a terrific movie, with an interesting story, and phenomenal performances by Mirren and Plummer.
A biography of Leo Tolstoy as he struggles to balance his fame with his beliefs.Starring Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer and Kerry Condon.Written by Michael Hoffman (Screenplay) and Jay Parini (Novel).Directed by Michael Hoffman.This is one of those that I didn't really fancy because on paper it doesn't sound too thrilling.But it's actually compelling stuff.
Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy deliver stellar performances.I have never read anything by Leo Tolstoy so I wasn't sure whether this movie would resonate with me in any way, but it's actually one of the best I've seen in recent weeks.
It features the amiable talents of former Von Trapp patriarch Christopher Plummer and The Queen (2006) herself Dame Helen Mirren, in a true to life story about the last days of Leo Tolstoy.
The leader of a new quasi-religious movement, Tolstoy's most outspoken critic is not Tsar Nicholas but his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren) who is upset by plans to give away their fortune and the copyrights of his novels to "the people".As alluded to earlier, the plot is largely taken from the point of view of James McAvoy's character; a Tolstoy-ian with enormous respect for the aging author, scholar and theologian.
As Sofya's plight becomes more immediate, the film devolves into a movie about a woman fighting for her rights in a divorce before divorce was a thing.The Last Station was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actress for Helen Mirren and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Plummer.
Dealing with the demise of the epic writer Leo Tolstoy and his life with an incomparable wife, "Station" is fetching to see, beautifully written and directed, and in the hands of leads Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, compelling.
Both sides despise each other, for understandable reasons and a devastating power struggle ensues between his loving, but somewhat status-obsessed wife Lady Sofya (Mirren) and the leader of the Tolstoyan movement, Chertkov (Giamatti) who despite having a truly villainous demeanour, seems only to have the best in mind for his idol, Tolstoy.The story itself, mediated by James McAvoy's Valentin Bulgakov, a young Tolstoyan who finds himself caught in the middle, is admirably believable.
The eponymous railway station in this case is Astapovo in southern Russia, a location of which the world would have remained blissfully unaware if it had not been the place of death of the acclaimed author Leo Tolstoy in 1910.This German-Russian film with mainly American and British actors was both written and directed by the American Michael Hoffman who took as his source material the 1990 novel of the same name by the American academic Jay Parini.
Christopher Plummer is the 82 year old Tolstoy, torn between family and acolytes, while Helen Mirren (herself part Russian) plays his long-suffering wife and mother of his 13 children - both excellent performances that received Academy Award nominations.
Both Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren were either awarded or nominated for awards on international film festivals for their roles of Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya, deservedly so: they completely bring back to life two people who lived, loved and fought for 48 years side by side, while creating some of the world's greatest novels together.
Like probably for most of the people, their marriage was full of happiness, laughter, frustrations and compromises - strong personalities who needed each other and the movie shows fascinating interaction between them as they fight about publishing rights that might pass into public domain (Tolstoy's well-intended but somehow clumsy and selfish idea, considering his wealth should provide his family estate with comfortable life after his death).
Finally on the story it is a story that starts by being more happy than expected but by the end darker tones come in and not to ruin it but it is dark until the very last few scenes(well kind of).Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren(both nominated for Oscars) do superb and although Ii actually didn't feel this was Mirren's best, she still did a great job as the slightly damaged wife.
All the viewer knows within the film is that Tolstoy detested wealth and valued love an some sort of communal living and that his wife lost then regained rights to his material, but how those factors impact his legacy or philosophies remains unclear, even after reading the words that appear on screen at the end of the film, which for a historical drama were unsatisfyingly brief..
Even though The Last Station was very acclaimed by film critics, I must confess I was not very interested in watching it.Its cast of excellent actors attracted me to some point, but I thought that the subject it deals with (the last days of the acclaimed writer León Tolstóy) was cold and depressing, besides of the fact I am not a very big fan of Tolstóy's work; in fact, the two times I tried to read War and Peace, I could not surpass the 100 pages, and not because it bored me, but because the archaic style, obsessive detail and huge list of characters overwhelm the reason (at least in my case).Nevertheless, I decided to give The Last Station a try and watch it and, to my surprise, the film ended up being a very interesting experience thanks to its perfect performances and its solid narrative, which has multiple levels of interpretation and a rich attention to the details.However, The Last Station is not perfect.The well-written story from this movie also works as an excuse to examine the Tolstoy philosophy.I personally think that every plan of economical utopia and social harmony (not only the ones from Tolstoy, but also the ones from Marx, Rousseau or Chomsky) seems naive for not considering the inherent vices from humanity, but it is anyway interesting to contemplate the process which concluded to its creation.On that aspect, I think The Last Station fulfills with its objective thanks to its accessible dialogues and very entertaining discussions.And besides of that, we have Michael Hoffman's elegant direction, nice cinematography and magnificent performances from Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, James McAvoy and the great Paul Giamatti.As for the negative elements, I can mention that the romance between the McAvoy's and Kerry Condon's characters occasionally derails the narrative without a particular purpose; and I also felt that ending is extended a bit more than it should.However, neither of those fails avoid me from recommending The Last Station as entertainment with some substance, which invites to the reflection and ingestion of new ideas..
This film is a drama focusing of the final days of the Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy, particularly on his relationships with his wife and his friend Vladimir Chertkov."The Last Station" is engaging, touching and gripping, it makes you glued to the screen to see what will ultimately happen.
The Last Station follows Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), a member of the Tolstoyan movement, who is sent to aid Tolstoy in convincing him to sign over the rights to his work to the people of Russia, and not to his wife, the Countess.
To find fault in The Last Station because it does not address the problem of the Russian Aristocracy's exorbitant habits, and their relationship to the struggling peasant class, is like condemning the movie for not discovering who was responsible for the murder on the Orient Express, or insufficiently detailing the party life of Holly Golightly- that is to say, the two are entirely unrelated.Although the content of the story concerns the aging Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya, the protagonist of the movie is Valentin Bulgakov (played by James McAvoy), and so, the principle conflict is, in fact, about his personal devotion to the Tolsotyian doctrines, and how his personal goals and values change as a result of his employment under Tolstoy.
The movie focuses on the "War and Peace" author's last few weeks alive in 1910, and is told through the eyes of young Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), a young secretary sent to work for Tolstoy.I should say that the portrayal of Sofya's frustration with her husband's dying wishes (to leave his work to the Russian people, thereby leaving her nothing) was pretty over-the-top, but I could understand her feelings.
Other 10 star reviews have already said all I would want to say.Therefore I'll restrict my review to a few simple words.This is a magnificent film, the best I have seen in the last twelve months (and i am a "twice a week" film goer) Great story, brilliant acting and a joy to look at; the attention to detail is breathtaking.Great that Helen Mirren has been recognised with award nominations but sad that Christopher Plummer, arguably the finest film actor of his generation, has been overlooked.The Last Station is as good as Doctor Zhivago and in my mind there is no higher accolade..
They are both nominated for Oscars (somehow, his first), though neither appear to be a front runner.Based on Jay Parini's novel, director Michael Hoffman (One Fine Day) brings us a look at the last year in the life of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who wrote two of the finest novels of all-time (War and Peace, Anna Karenina).
Michael Hoffman's delightful new film "The Last Station" brings it all into beautiful focus and gives us a deep, troubling but poignant peak at one great man's mind and his discordant relationship with the woman of his life.In the film, Countess Sofya Tolstoya (played to perfection by Helen Mirren) is a dramatic, outspoken and witty woman who, notwithstanding her devotion to her husband, is against his every ideology.
Tolstoy is a kind, warm-hearted and influential man torn between following the ideals he set for the public and the love and responsibility he has toward his wife.His best friend, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) and political leader of his party and virtually all his affairs, loathes Sofya as much as she loathes him, and sees her as the only threat to the Tolstoyan movement; the author's work is constantly delayed and set back because of her influence over him and he seeks to vanquish it.
THE LAST STATION – CATCH IT ( B- ) The last Station is Biography of famous philosopher & writer Leo Tolstoy & his relationship with his wife in final years of his lifeThe movie is like a Biography So, it seems lengthy at timesHelen Mirren Standout in the movie she is Indeed the Queen of Hollywood Her portrayal of an agonizing & loving wife is Excellent James McAvoy is Charming as Alwayz.
Fortunately, English-speaking performers are acting out these final days of famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy's life.Russia 1910: Aspiring writer Valetine Bulgakov (James McAvoy) is hired by Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) to work for his idol, Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer), at his country estate.
His wife, Sophia (Helen Mirren) wars openly with the head of his movement Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), who she claims in his efforts to convince Tolstoy to sign the rights to his works over to the Russian people is trying to steal the wealth that is owed to her upon her husbands imminent death.
Both Mirren and Plummer were nominated for Oscars in the best actress and supporting actor divisions, respectively and deservedly lost to Sandra Bullock and Christoph Waltz, respectively.The movie is a slow moving one with a sidebar story of Tolstoy's social secretary finding love in the commune that the writer has set up.The film is extremely slow moving and brooding with Paul Giamatti, the friend of Plummer, stealing every scene that he is in.
The story sees Tolstoy's disciples, led by Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), trying to get control of his legacy and the copyright of his works, after he dies, from his wife Sofya (Dame Helen Mirren).
Sasha is a very emotional person, like her mother and that creates some very interesting scenes toward the end.Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer absolutely carry the movie with their portrayals of the Tolstoys.