The Last Station (2009)
Director: Michael Hoffman
With: Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Paul Giamatti
Based on a novel about the last days of the life of Leo Tolstoy (Plummer), who had achieved a near-saintly status in the last years of the czar in Russia. He sponsored a foundation and an experiment in communal/pacifist farm living, supported by the royalties from his writings. And, in his old age, he developed a loathing for his own riches and privilege..
His wife Sofya (Mirren), the love of his life and his inspiration, is worried that he is being manipulated by Chertkov (Giamatti) into signing a new will giving all future royalties to the foundation at the expense of his widow and children. Chertkov hires a new secretary for Tolstoy, one Bulgakov (McAvoy), who is also to serve as his spy in the household, reporting on Sofya’s doings.
Sofya is a high-quality drama queen, but we, and Bulgakov, are seduced by her passion for her children’s legacy, and her loathing for the oily and dishonest Chertkov. The whole situation is cranked up by family, politics and blurred loyalties.
Mirren’s Sofya is operatic, way over the top, but I mean that as a compliment. It is the only weapon she has to fight her husband’s misguided ideals and Chertkov’s schemes. She is a mama bear with Shakespearean motivations.
Giamatti is a slimy villain, waxed mustache and all. McAvoy gives us his patented wide-eyed naif, driven by things he barely understands. And Plummer has arrived at some pinnacle of film acting. Even in crappy movies, Plummer exudes a dignity the material does not deserve.
This, however, is a pretty good movie. Not great, because the direction and the screenplay are always on the verge of going out of control.
But, by the end of the film, the essence of the story carries the day. We can relate to the situation if we grew up in a family.
B+