The Last Station

Directed by Michael Hoffman

Runtime: 112 min.

PORTRAYING MARRIAGE AS a complex war of egos, The Last Station dramatizes the last days of affection and hostility between Leo Tolstoy and his wife as they move from their dacha to his final home. Director Michael Hoffman’s dramatic curve concentrates on Tolstoy’s exploitative entourage (Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy) competing for the rights to his works.These historical details, verified by an end-credits montage of vintage photos that show the cast’s perfect resemblance to the real-life figures they portray, are less interesting than the domestic fireworks.

As Tolstoy and his wife, Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren approach the uniqueness in their roles as aged lovers, rival egotists (author vs. opera singer).The film becomes an actor’s showcase—specializing in Plummer’s male crotchetiness and Mirren’s flamboyant hysterics.The melodrama is pitched so high, it’s almost campy.Yet it’s also more convincing than the sexual warfare in The White Ribbon that steals shamelessly from Strindberg and clumsily from Bergman. Plummer and Mirren find theatrical sparks; they enliven Hoffman’s thesis about Tolstoy’s beliefs and his contradictory, actual love life. The Last Station wavers between philosophy, biography and soap opera. It fails as high art and entertains as low.