The Last Station

The Last Station" is the kind of dramatically bound historic material that could soar on Broadway with the cast, but not the script, of its film version. And yet, writer/director Michael Hoffman's film adaptation of Jay Parini's novel doesn't effectively rally the strength of its accomplished actors. The inimitable Christopher Plummer plays Leo Tolstoy, who is in the midst of a bitter dispute with his wife of 48-years, Sofya (Helen Mirren) over his plans to bequeath his vast wealth and utopian Yasnaya Polyana estate to a socialist idealist named Chertov (Paul Giamati). The year is 1910, and in the interest of keeping idolaters close by Tolstoy takes on avid follower Valentin (James McAvoy) as a new personal secretary. Disinterested in intruding on family squables as they pertain to his secretary position, Valentin expends his energies with a sexually liberated Tolstoyan named Masha (Kerry Condon). Masha's crash-course in non-romantic love blinds Valentin, and the audience, from the full impact of Sofya's plight which needed much more narrative attention than the filmmakers afford. Here is a story murdered by a subplot. Whenever the action abandons Tolstoy and Sofya, it's as if the film regresses into a teen love story. But whenever Plummer and Mirren share the screen, the film pops and twinkles with drama. By the time Tolstoy arrives at the Astapovo train station where he took his last breath, the story seems better titled "Train in Vain.

Rated R. 100 mins. (C+) (Two Stars)