The Last Station

No matter how famous you are, no matter how high your pedestal, there is nothing like family to cut you down to size. The Last Station tells the story of Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) the famous author, and his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren). Tolstoy was a Russian Count and Sofya, sixteen years his junior, was the daughter of a court physician. On their wedding night Tolstoy presented his wife with his diaries detailing all his previous sexual conquests and the existence of an illegitimate child. This insensitivity to her feelings as a woman is how they started their marriage, but they managed to stay together for forty-eight years.

Sofya and Tolstoy had a passionate relationship. She bore him thirteen children and during the writing of War And Peace she became his secretary and hand-copied the epic novel eight times. She also handled all financial matters for the family and the running of the estate. She was Tolstoy’s partner in all ways. Later in life when Tolstoy became famous Sofya was pushed into the background, most notably by Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), Tolstoy’s companion. Sofya’s jealousy of Chertkov and the founding of the Tolstoy movement caused a riff in the family. Chertkov wanted Tolstoy to renounce all material possession to further their cause and Sofya wanted to protect the estate for her children’s benefit. When Chertkov replaced Sofya with a professional secretary (James McAvoy), the family home became a battlefield. Tolstoy, sick of all the bickering finally left his family and went on the road. Unfortunately he was also ill in health.

The Last Station is named for the legendary location where Tolstoy died. It examines how the celebrities we worship can very seldom live up to their hype. Despite the press, they are still people, dealing with wives and children and everyday life. I think that this film is a good antidote to hero worship. Everyone should see this film.

Rating: First Run Heroes are people too