The Last Station (***)

Directed by: Michael Hoffman

Starring: Christopher Plummer, James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti, Anne-Marie Duff, Kerry Condon

Seen: March 28^th 2010

*** Out of ****

The Last Station tells of the final year in Leo Tolstoy’s life; with the emphasis on his tumultuous marriage and his relationship with the Tolstoyans, his devout followers, all as seen through the eyes of his private secretary, Valentin Bulgakov. Walking into the cinema I told a friend I expected quite a fun art-house movie based on the trailer, but she had other ideas, as being a bit of a Tolstoy historian she expected something more on the heavy side. Both of us had our expectations met, as The Last Station starts out fun, but then turns glum.

Valentin Bulgakov (McAvoy) gets assigned the position of Tolstoy’s private secretary by Vladimir Chertkov (Giamatti), leader of the Tolstoyans – a group of people who hold to the ideals they interpret out of Tolstoy’s works with more tenacity and vigour than Tolstoy (Plummer) himself. They’ve in fact taken things a bit far. Valentin is so honoured by just being in Tolstoy’s presence that he starts crying when Tolstoy wants to hear more about his life, not just starting him working. Sofya Tolstoya (Mirren) is the love of Tolstoy’s life, but they are certainly not your average in-love couple. Sofya has absolutely no time or tolerance for the Tolstoyans, as she only sees them bankrupting her family by over-impressing some of Tolstoy’s ideals (possibly even misinterpreting them) on Tolstoy himself.

Valentin is to record everything he hears at the Tolstoy home and report it back to Chertkov, as Chertkov, who is under house arrest, cannot be there to influence Tolstoy in the direction of his Tolstoyan beliefs. But as Valentin’s affection for Tolsoy becomes more than just hero worship he comes to see the true Tolstoy off the pedestal, and his life subtly changes, as he rethinks some of his beliefs, one of them the vow to be celibate as a Tolstoyan. The girl in question is Masha (Condon), who he meets at a Tolstoyan reserve, and their relationship is beautifully realised, from the awkward opening phases right through to the great realisation of their love.

The Last Station captures during its first half, as the movie effectively brings across the pure excitement of the filmmakers to tell this story. The fun I was talking about earlier was evident in every scene, and it gives the warmest of feelings in the heart in this stage of the film. The latter parts of the story, with the fight between Sofya and Chertkov escalating and Valentin’s position as mediator between the two becoming an increasingly difficult one; is where the movie loses steam. It doesn’t get bad, but a bit too serious in light of the films first half, and a bit too bogged down in the oncoming tragedy of Tolstoy’s death at his last Station. The bitterness between the characters obscures the beauty of some of Tolstoy’s ideals, including his wonderful thoughts around love.

For the first half of the film I’d give ***½ while the second in my mind only deserves **½ out of ****, since it takes the romanticism out of the story. I still admire the film as the first half cannot be discounted, while every single actor does a great job in bringing their characters to life. You come to loathe Paul Giamatti’s Chertkov and to a lesser degree Tolstoy’s daughter Sasha (Duff), while empathising with the brilliant Helen Mirren as the half-crazy Sofya Tolstoya in her struggles as initially she feels that she is the only one to really understand not a misinterpretation of Tolstoy’s ideals, but more of what he meant over what he actually wrote. Valentin comes to the same revelation, and Mcavoy does a great job in playing the bumbling secretary.

The Last Station is very good, it is just a shame that the sense of life from its first half didn’t really make it into its last half. As far as period pieces go, this one is definitely a keeper.