the last station and director michael hoffman melodrama about the last month in the life of leo tolstoy and begin with fog and sleep . tolstoy ( christopher plummer ) live with his family in a compound at yasnaya polyana and take walk and write and be see to by his wife and the adherent to his movement and people dedicate to his idea of pacifism and vegetarianism and sexual abstinence and communal property who have gather in a forest camp not far away . his wife and sophia ( helen mirren ) war openly with the head of his movement chertkov ( paul giamatti ) and who she claim in his effort to convince tolstoy to sign the right to his work over to the russian people be try to steal the wealth that be owe to her upon her husband imminent death . observe all of this be tolstoy new steward and bulgakov ( james mcavoy ) and a naive adherent who be tear between his love of the man and concern for his wife . hoffman script and which be base on the novel by jay parini and quite often veer itself into confuse territory and building up a complex tangle of thread and opaque motivation that ultimately do not resolve themselves in any satisfying way . the scope of the film be grand and and it story should reverberate just a tolstoy and whose belief foreshadow in some way both the bolshevik and those of pacifist like ghandi . it unfortunately doesn not and it un unpickable and build up with much gusto confrontation that be constantly ravel off into nothingness . the three way relationship between the church and the faithful sophia and the unbelieving tolstoy and for example and be reference often . in the last section of the film a mute priest in a magnificent hat even show up and but the script never expand on this beyond awkwardly insert it into the story a an attempt at enrich it or provide some semblance of historical accuracy . there be a ton of detail in the film and but not enough attention be pay to most of them and a a result the film feel clutter and overburden and energetic but unfortunately pointless . at it heart be the love story between sophia and tolstoy and and that story and a baffling and cramp a it be and be the reason to watch the film . mirren and plummer be and unsurprisingly and the best thing in the film . plummer tolstoy be vague and at once confuse and resolute and apprehensive and full of joy and certainty . mirren sophia be in full panic and in a righteous lather and force to watch and expect to be mute a her husband give away his time and his possession and his money to people who be unquestionably devote to him but also clearly in possession of their own agenda . theyre great performance and all the more so give the vast gulf between the real importance of the couple place in history and the script ability to support that and both sophia and tolstoy seem will into the film by mirren and plummer alone and both make the best they can out of what meagre material be there . giammati and mcavoy and both talented actor and be unable to do the same and giamatti chertkov seem neither a revolutionary nor a thief ( and not both at once and either ) but rather a cipher and a stand in for a whole package of unresolved anxiety and aborted historical impulse . the scope of this thing never boil down to anything and it hitch along and get by on the strength of plummer and mirren and not much else . it interesting and pretty and but ultimately unrewarding . 4 . 5/10 .