The Last Station

2010 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE - BEST ACTRESS (HELEN MIRREN), BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER)

A film about the last days of Tolstoy’s life? No wait, come back!

Despite its potentially dry subject matter, The Last Station is a hugely enjoyable (and often very funny) drama featuring stellar performances that bring this period literary tale to life.

After almost 50 years of marriage, the Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren) - devoted wife, passionate lover, muse, and secretary of Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer), who has copied out War and Peace six times … by hand! - suddenly finds her entire world turned upside down.

In the name of piety, the great Russian novelist has renounced his noble title, his property, and even his family in favor of poverty, vegetarianism, and celibacy.

So when Sofya discovers further that Tolstoy’s trusted disciple, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) - whom she despises - may have secretly convinced her husband to sign a new will, leaving the rights to his iconic novels to the Russian people rather than his own family, she is consumed by outrage. Using every bit of cunning she has, she fights fiercely for what she believes is rightfully hers.

The more extreme her behavior becomes, however, the more easily Chertkov is able to persuade Tolstoy of the damage she will do to his glorious legacy. Into this minefield, meanwhile, wanders Tolstoy’s worshipful new assistant, the young, gullible Valentin (James McAvoy).

In no time, he becomes a pawn - first of the scheming Chertkov and then of the wounded, vengeful Sofya - as each plots to undermine the other’s gains. A tale of two romances, one beginning, one near its end, The Last Station is a richly complex, funny, and emotional story about the difficulty of living with love and the impossibility of living without it.