"The greatest way to improve each other's lives is not through money, gifts, good advice, or even work, but through love. Every person's responsibility is to nurture love and bring it into this world," wrote Leo Tolstoy in Wise Thoughts for Every Day, the great Russian novelist's collection of personal wisdom drawn from his expansive readings in philosophy, religion, and literature. Michael Hoffman (The Emperor's Club, Restoration), the writer and director of this ambitious and ethically provocative film, has adapted it from a novel by Jay Parini. It is set at the large country estate of Leo Tolstoy who in 1910 is a wise but troubled old man who is trying to take stock of his life and his work, but whose celebrity status gives him no privacy or peace. The story explores the many shades of love in his life and in the lives of those around him. His ideal of nurturing love is a noble one but hard to handle in the world of competition, jealousy, fixed ideas, and rigid ideology.
After being hired as a spy by Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), Tolstoy's trusted disciple, the young and enthusiastic Valentin (James McAvoy) arrives at the home of his hero Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer). His assignment is to serve as private secretary to the great writer, and he soon finds Tolstoy to be an appreciative and warm-hearted employer. However, he is quite taken aback by the battle being waged by his wife, the Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), who believes that she should be the heir of her husband's substantial literary estate. She sees this gift as a fitting recompense for her contributions to War and Peace and other projects as well as bearing him 13 children in their 48-year marriage. She can't stand the smugness of Chetkov who is determined to pass on Tolstoy's literary estate to the Russian people. Sofya is very jealous of this disciple and sets out to demonstrate her love for her husband through various theatrical acts.
Meanwhile, Valentin is smitten by Masha (Kerry Condon), a bright, frisky, independent, and hedonistic beauty. She is a member of Tolstoy's commune where followers do farm labor and try to live out his ideals of pacifism, social equality, celibacy, and simplicity. The great seer was a masterful interpreter of universal love but like most of us had a harder time dealing with the messiness of love in intimate relationships. Valentin risks all for romantic love but is disappointed and it takes him a while to come to terms with the clash between Tolstoy and Sofya. In the end, he witnesses the fruits of a long marriage come to life in the midst of a death.
The Last Station is hobbled somewhat by the histrionic clashes between the great writer and his wife but the rewarding depiction of the different shades of love manages to outweigh this flaw.
Special features on the DVD include deleted scenes; outtakes; and commentaries with director Michael Hoffman and actors Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren.
