Review of The Last Station (2009) by Victor P — 13 Nov 2010

What a mess this movie is. I studied Russian language and literature for four years at college, read a clutch of Tolstoy novels, and I couldn't make head nor tale of what they were trying to say. In fact, I turned it off after 45 minutes of one bewildering scene after the other.

The script is seriously dreadful and leaves the confused viewer to try to figure out what might be happening. We learn that Tolstoy is trying to give away all his wealth since he believes in a world devoid of material things. Naturally, there are some people close to him who don't like the idea. We start off with a mysterious older man -- and just who is he exactly? -- sending a young man to Tolstoy's estate to keep an eye on things. A few minutes later we see someone reading a telegraph tape and announcing someone is free. It's the older man. Who is he? And why do we care that he is free, since we didn't know he was not free when we saw him before?

The younger man has apparently sworn himself to a life of virginity -- why? why is this important? -- but is quickly seduced by a woman on the farm who plays a mysterious role we don't ever grasp. Why is she there? The non-sequitors and dreadful quality of the script completely overwhelm the performances of Plummer and Mirren. So I turned it off and am happy I did so.