'The Last Station' review

Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren (Credit: Stephan Rabold/Sony Classics)

As he nears the end of his life, “War and Peace” author Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) decides to renounce the comforts of upper class life for vows of poverty, celibacy and vegetarianism. His devoted wife, Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), is mortified that her husband will compromise their family’s future and his literary legacy. She blames the influence of Tolstoy disciple Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), who has convinced Tolstoy to leave the rights to his work to the Russian people instead of his family. Chertkov and Sofya’s battle for influence over Tolstoy carries over to the author’s new assistant, Valentin (James McAvoy), a devoted fan and wide-eyed innocent.

The buzz: After premiering to generally positive reception at the Telluride film festival in the fall, “Last Station” was bought by Sony Classics and officially became a competitor in the Oscar race. It plays for one week in Los Angeles to qualify for awards before re-opening in January. The strategy may be working, since the movie landed a somewhat surprising five nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards including Best Feature Film, Best Actress (Mirren) and Best Supporting Actor (Plummer).

The verdict: Writer-director Michael Hoffman (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “One Fine Day”) has crafted a functional history lesson and competent piece of period Oscar bait, elevated by some good humor and a solid cast. He’s also smartly opted to avoid a straightforward bio-pic approach, but the good news ends there. "Station" struggles to make these remote characters truly come alive and never quite locates an interesting window into the personal life of an artist (especially compared to the still fresh memory of Jane Campion’s “Bright Star”). Mirren’s impressively forceful turn is an asset—Sofya turns out to be more significant than Tolstoy—yet it’s really McAvoy’s character at the center of the action. The decision steers the narrative into well-worn coming of age territory that doesn’t carry much weight or originality. The film becomes a struggle over vaguely defined ideologies, and a superficial look at romantic relationships.

Did you know? Seeing Mirren play a member of Russian aristocracy may seem a stretch but the actress says her great- great-grandmother was a Russian countess.

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