Leo Tolstoy's life was imagined in the film 'The Last Station'
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Molly Driscoll Staff Writer
In 2009, moviegoers who may have only remembered Russian author Leo Tolstoy from English class became reacquainted with the writer through the film 鈥淭he Last Station,鈥� which starred 鈥淏eginners鈥� actor Christopher Plummer as the author and Helen Mirren of 鈥淭he Hundred-Foot Journey鈥� as his wife Sofya.
鈥淪tation鈥� is based on Jay Parini鈥檚 novel about Tolstoy, which has the same title, and takes place during the final year in the life of the author. With Tolstoy so close to death, the author鈥檚 editor Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) and others are trying to convince him to sign a new contract that would have all his works be in the public domain. These events are witnessed by the writer鈥檚 secretary, Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy).
Both Plummer and Mirren were nominated for Oscars for their roles 鈥� Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress, respectively 鈥� and the movie received mostly positive reviews, with 鈥淪tation鈥� currently holding a score of 76 out of 100 on the review aggregator website . Monitor critic Peter Rainer wrote that the movie itself 鈥渋sn鈥檛 all that it should be, but whenever these two actors [Plummer and Mirren] are onscreen, it鈥檚 like a great night at the theater鈥� one of the terrific things about writer-director聽Michael Hoffman鈥檚 'The Last Station' is that, as聽Christopher Plummer plays him, the old master is, of all things, a recognizable human being鈥� Sofya [is] played with ravenous theatricality by聽Helen Mirren.鈥�
Many critics agreed that Plummer and Mirren were the reason to see the film, with critic Peter Travers writing, 鈥淭he incomparable Mirren is simply astounding. And Plummer鈥� is her match. The sight of these two acting giants going at each other should come under the heading of pure, rowdy pleasure. The film itself, energetically directed and written by Michael Hoffman, can't always rise to the level of its two dynamo stars.鈥� And while critic Ann Hornaday found that 鈥渢he operatic emotional pitch ultimately proves unsustainable (not to mention tiresome),鈥� she wrote that 鈥渢he film is full of captivating details鈥� and 鈥渋t's easy to see why [Mirren received an Oscar nomination鈥� Mirren and Plummer are wonderful together.鈥�
Meanwhile, Plummer told the that one of his requests to director Michael Hoffman was 鈥減lease, let鈥檚 not make [Tolstoy] a museum piece.鈥�
