The last station

"The last station" tells the story of the last days of Leo Tolstoy's life, focusing mainly on his tumultuous and passionate relationship with his wife, the Countess Sofya (excellently portrayed by Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, both nominated for Oscars for these roles), but also centres around his young secretary, Valentin (James McAvoy, also played very well as naive and idealistic but ultimately very helpful in a seemingly impossible situation). At this stage of Tolstoy's life he's no longer writing novels, and his most devoted followers call themselves Tolstoyans and try to practice brotherly love and pacifism and denounce material wealth and physical/sexual love. Valentin is caught between the opposing views of the two Tolstoys as well as his own awakening of first love. How can you profess to love mankind and at the same time denounce actually touching and loving a real person? I was entranced by this film, as well as at times infuriated and exasperated at the way people who love each other deeply can cause each other so much suffering. The cinematography was beautiful, helped by the idyllic country setting of Tolstoy's estate. Definitely deserved more Oscar nominations than it got, in my opinion. I'll write some pre-Oscar musings here in the next day or two.