The Last Station is in fact two love stories; Tolstoy, a prominent public figure in the burgeoning global media toward the end of his life finds himself torn between his own ideals and his wife and lover of 48 years, Countess Sofya..
The Last Station begins with a poignant quote from Leo Tolstoy’s renowned novel War and Peace – “Everything that I know, I know only because I love”. If you are expecting the film that follows to be deeply entwined in the philosophical writings of Tolstoy you may well leave disappointed.
However, the opening quote is by no means misplaced. It delicately launches the audience into a picturesque and convincingly cast dramatic film – part tragedy, part comedy, but entirely love story until the bitter end.
It is in fact two love stories The Last Station presents. Tolstoy, a prominent public figure in the burgeoning global media toward the end of his life finds himself torn between his own ideals and his wife and lover of 48 years, Countess Sofya.
Meanwhile, the young virgin scholar, Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy) has begun work as Tolstoy’s assistant but quickly begins to witness human imperfections in the life of the man he has idolized. He sees Tolstoy struggling to keep together his own domestic life and falls in love himself, with the beautiful Masha (Kerry Condon), a teacher on the Tolstoy estate.
Eccentric Tolstoy is played well by seasoned Christopher Plummer, but Helen Mirren undoubtedly steals the show in her role as the passionate, unpredictable, at times fierce, Countess Sofya. Sofya is constantly reminding Tolstoy of their 48-year love affair. His work owed credit to her, just as her life was a product of his. Indeed, Sofya had copied the whole of the work ‘War and Peace’ at least six times.
Tolstoy’s devoted disciple Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) is determined to see his works left to the Russian people, yet Sofya sternly fights for the works to be kept in the family (a battle I understand she eventually won).
The film culminates in the title’s last station, a tiny railway station near the edge of Russia. Tolstoy is ill and had abandoned his estate, wife and worldly possessions. Here is where one chapter in a lifelong live affair will end, but at the same time, a new one begins.
The Last Station was written and directed by Michael Hoffman and is based on the novel by Jay Parini. Plummer and Mirren bring passionate and tense moments to the screen while McAvoy and Condon’s blossoming relationship is pleasantly youthful.
It is a film that has not placed itself into any particular art/literary niche and will be widely accessible because of it. Also contributing to this accessibility is the fact that the Russian characters all speak in perfectly honed British accents. I’m going to be honest and admit that I don’t really know that much about Tolstoy’s life, but this film inspired me to bury myself in history for at least an entire day. Next? Perhaps I’ll pick up a copy of War and Peace!
By C. Alex de Freitas
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