Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer Shine in a Tale About Tolstoy
Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer received Academy Award nominations for their performances in The Last Station (2009), which was written and directed by Michael Hoffman. The story centers on the last months in the life of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, the famed author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. The film has a fine cast that includes Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, Kerry Condon and Anne-Marie Duff.
The compelling character in the movie is Tolstoy's wife Sofya, portrayed by Helen Mirren in yet another of her brilliant performances. The story takes place in 1910 when Sofya has been married to Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) for 48 years, had 13 children by him, and copied drafts of War and Peace by hand six times. Leo and Sofya still love each other, but in their old age — he's about 82, she's about 66 — they find themselves caught up in a thorny marital crisis due to their conflicting values.
The film shows Tolstoy living a life of luxury surrounded by servants, but the old man is deeply troubled that he's not being true to his own ideals. He's developed a philosophy based on the teachings of Jesus as put forth in the Gospels, and this has spawned the Tolstoyan movement, a kind of utopian socialism. The clash that sets the story in motion arises when Sofya fears her husband is going to make a will placing his literary works in the public domain.
The Last Station starts slowly and is a bit stagy. The characters seem more like writerly constructs than real people. But this is a great-looking movie, and the acting is terrific.
Bonus Materials
The DVD containing The Last Station contains over 40 minutes of video extras. The best of these is "A Tribute to Christopher Plummer," a 19-minute interview of the 79-year-old actor conducted at AFI Fest 2009. If you liked the movie, don't miss the 12 1/2 minutes of deleted scenes, one of which makes it clear that the Tolstoys were so wealthy that Sofya could afford to rent a train when she needed to. Another featurette is the eight-minute "The Missed Station," a sort of gag reel where the actors, who seem so capable and classy in the finished film, are shown botching takes, breaking up in laughter, using the F-word, etc.
Also on the DVD are two separate audio commentary tracks. By far the better of the two is the one by writer-director Michael Hoffman. He discusses adapting the screenplay from Jay Parini's novel with the same title. Hoffman also talks about shooting the film in Germany.
The other audio commentary is by lead actors Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer. There's a lot of silence here and not much of interest, though they do mention that Mirren is half Russian.
Release Date: June 22, 2010
Feature Film Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for a Scene of Sexuality/Nudity