The Last Station

If the thought of BBC period dramas on Sundays makes you cringe, this is your film.

Based on the book by Jay Parini, The Last Station sees Valentin Bulgakov, Leo Tolstoy’s secretary, caught in the middle of a battlefield. In his final months, the Russian hero has decided to will his literary estate to the people instead of his wife Sofya. She, being ‘concerned for the welfare of the family’ and infuriated by her husband’s disciples, does not take kindly to Vladimir Chertkov - a sycophantic Tolstoy devotee whose concern ‘for the welfare of mankind’ was undoubtedly the spark that ignited the author’s decision.

Strong leading roles for actresses over a certain age are rare. Even rarer is the possibility that they won’t be given to Helen Mirren. But, with the gong nominations piling up, who’s complaining? Childish, dramatic, conniving, romantic and heartbreaking, Sofya Tolstoy is a godsend of a part for any actress, and Mirren tears it up like it may be her last meal.

Thankfully, she has her match in Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy. The couple’s chemistry is reminiscent of not only recent male-female fireworks displays such as Doubt, but also Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole in The Lion In Winter. As with both those films, the stalwarts are aided by fervent support (from James McAvoy as Valentin and Paul Giamatti as Chertkov) and, crucially, a witty script. This is a period drama that’s not afraid to be laugh-out-loud funny, even humiliating its characters in crucial scenes where most Hollywood films would have given them a righteous dignity.

Writer-director Michael Hoffman has been careful to layer his characters while at the same time withholding: is Tolstoy really such a selfless patriot? Or is he the hypocrite his wife believes he’s become? Does he actually love Sofya? Viewers are treated with enough respect to think for themselves - freedom, after all, being a key theme.

While it may lack Atonement’s visual artistry, The Last Station is a passionate and potent supporter of that film’s ethos: just because it’s period, doesn’t mean it can’t feel modern.



Released in UK cinemas on 19th February 2010 by Optimum Releasing.

Written by Polis Loizou.