The Last Station
Grade: A-
With an all-star cast featuring the likes of Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy, “The Last Station” was bound to be the stuff of indie film magic. Directed by Michael Hoffman (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), “The Last Station” focuses on the final year in the life of famed Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Based on the Jay Parini novel of the same name, “Station” takes on the most difficult aspect in Tolstoy’s life at the time: his relationship with his erratic wife, Sofya (Mirren). While it ties together Tolstoy’s politics and philosophy, the film mainly deals with love and how it cannot always be an idyllic romance; it’s about learning how keep romance alive when the love starts to falter.
The film is seen through the eyes of Valentin Bulgakov (McAvoy), a nervous but kind-hearted student who comes to live with Tolstoy and learn about his philosophy. Bulgakov is a loyal follower of Tolstoyan ethics and wants to become a devout disciple of his principles on life and love. Prior to that, he was taught under Vladimir Chertkov (Giamatti), Tolstoy’s best friend and dearest admirer. Chertkov sends him to live with Tolstoy with instructions to write about everything he sees and learns in a diary.
At the time, it seemed as though everyone around Tolstoy kept a diary, documenting the life of the gifted philosopher. In addition, there was a constant camera crew outside of Tolstoy’s bucolic mansion, always snapping pictures of him and his family. Chertkov was obsessed with keeping the memory of Tolstoy alive long after he passed away, so he allowed people to take pictures and instructed everyone, even Tolstoy himself, to keep a diary. An additional instruction Chertkov gives to Bulgakov is to stay celibate; he felt that it would make matters worse should Valentin become involved with any women of the household like former students had done. Eager to please, Bulgakov agrees and sets off to live with Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya.
Upon meeting everyone, Tolstoy’s delicate relationship with his wife is revealed. Mirren masterfully plays Sofya, who carefully balances her loving side with her neurotic tendencies. As the film progresses, it is clear Tolstoy is struggling between living a life of simplicity and dealing with his wife’s wishes for money and extravagance. Sofya is supremely against every one of Tolstoy’s friends, especially those who want him to give everything up and live a life of solitude. Throughout the film, we see their relationship become strained and twisted, mostly due to Sofya’s melodramatic nature and dislike for anyone who fawns over her husband; she even despises her own daughter, Sasha. It is in this way that the film depicts love in a stage that is not often seen.
After so many years of whirlwind romance, how does a couple keep the flame alive when there are so many factors pulling them apart? Sofya wishes for Tolstoy to write a will and give the rights to his works to his family, while his friends push him to give his rights to the public in order to preserve his legacy as a man who catered to the needs of the people by sharing his philosophy of love.
Meanwhile, Bulgakov has personal struggles following Tolstoy’s philosophy. After meeting Masha (Kerry Condon), a caretaker who lives in the home, she and Bulgakov start to fall in love. It’s a parallel that director Hoffman draws between young romance and love when it is near its final stage. Amidst all the drama going on at home, Bulgakov still remains loyal to Tolstoy, but starts to develop his own feelings about love from what he sees in the home.
In what might be Hoffman’s most poignant piece, “The Last Station” is an excruciating look at love and all its conflicts. The fact that it was based on Tolstoy’s life makes it all the more dramatic, and evident that even the most loving of people must suffer to make a relationship work. It is a painfully real film that challenges the idea that love does not necessarily conquer all.
You can reach this staff writer at ydesta@theeagleonline.com.
