Most of us are probably only aware of Leo Tolstoy as the author of War and Peace. I know I was not aware of the long and at times turbulent 58 year marriage to his wife Sofya and the political intrigue surrounding the last period of his life. Such a rich story line along with the typical Russian intrigue, has the makings of a great film. Does The Last Station deliver on its promise?
Film 
While touching on a bit of some very interesting history, The Last Station is essentially a love story, or should I say two love stories, the first involving Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) and his wife of 58 years Sofya (Helen Mirren_and that of Tolstoy’s young secretary Valentin with Masha , a woman much wiser than he in the ways of the world.
The film is essentially a story about the last year or so of the life of Leo Tolstoy and the frictions that developed between he and his wife over the family inheritance. In short, Tolstoy didn’t believe in the ownership of private property and hated the aristocricy of which his wife was a member. A socialist movement had grown up around Tolstory and his writings headed by Chertkov (played wonderfully by Paul Giamatti) which had a back to nature utopian camp located nearby.
A struggle ensued between Chertkov and Tolstoy’s wife Sofya, to see who would control the royalties from Tolstoy’s works after his death. Chertkov believed that they belonged to the Russian people. Sofya wanted them to provide for both her and her family. Chertkov in reality, wanted them to fund his political movement, a fact that Tolstoy never could really see.
Into this struggle arrives Valentin (James McAvory) a member of the movement who is full of idealism and a desire for a better way of life. He is hired by Chertkov to essentially spy on Tolsoy and his wife and help insure the Chertkov’s control over the royalties. While the Tolstoyan movement seemed to devalue the role and significant of love in society, Valentin began to have second thoughts after speaking with both Tolstory and Sofya and discussing their lives with him. He began to see the importance of love in society and ultimately finds himself falling in love with Masha, after she seduces him.
Through most of the film, Valentin is torn between his fondness for both Tolstoy and Sofya, the movement and his ultimate mission and his love for Masha. Two love stories wrapped up in a film about Russian political intrigue.
The film features a stellar cast all on the top of their game and a very engrossing script that pulls your right into the narrative from the very beginning and never lets you go. What more could you ask in a film? The Last Station is very highly recommended.
Video
I had very high expectations for the video on The Last Station due to the rather high quality of some of the prior Sony PIctures Classic releases. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. However, I was a bit concerned by the opening sequence of the film which had very mediocre blacks, was rather soft and which lacked much in the way of detail. However, right after the opening scene, the image quality picked up notably. The film itself as a very natural looking color palette which is a bit on the subdued side. The colors are just a tad and I mean just a tad on the muted side. Flesh tones are spot on. Greens in particular look spectacular and very natural.
The cinematographer also did an excellent job capturing the look of early morning sunlight. It is the exterior daytime scenes where this encode really shines, providing excellent black level reproduction, depth, clarity, three dimensionality and detail galore. The interior scenes, especially those shot in low light look a tad on the soft side, but even then have excellent levels of detail. The beautiful imagery of the daytime scenes more than makes up for the softness of the night time interior scenes. All in all, this is a fine looking film and a great encode.
Audio
I must admit up front that I had to really wrestle with my score for the lossless audio track on The Last Station, trying to decide between a 5.0 star or a 4.5 star score. The audio is that good. Ultimately I settled on a score of 4.5 as the film lacked the total sense of immersion of a 5 star presentation. Other than the level of total immersion that was missing, this is a 5 star presentation in all respects.
The first thing to comment on the sound is the fidelity which is simply outstanding. The dialogue track is beautifully recorded and placed in the mix. The dialogue, from the loudest shout to the softest whisper is presented with stunning clarity and realism. Overall dynamics are sensational as is the bass response. Just listen for example, to the train sequences. It really sounds as though a locomotive is rumbling through your room. The same can be said for all the sound effects, whether it be the pop of an early 20th Century camera flash, the sound of a gun or the slamming of a door, the audio here is simply exquisite. Even better is the score which sounds sublime with a silky smoothness that I found to be very, very appealing.
For a dialogue driven film, the surrounds are engaged rather aggressively creating a real sense of room acoustics and the superb placement of sound effects within the sound field, falling just a smidge short of the very best sound designs I have experienced in the home. The audio on The Last Station is simply suburb and should thrill fans of the film. I know it did me.
Special Features 
I must say that I found the extras rather lacking and are the only thing about the release that I found disappointing. The extras include deleted scenes, a gag reel entitled The Missing Station and commentaries featuring stars Christopher Plummer. Helen Mirren and director Michael Hoffman. By far, the best of the extras is an interview conducted of Christopher Plummer at an AFI screening of the film entitled a Tribute to Christopher Plummer, where he discusses, not only the film, but his long acting career. This is really the only extra that can be characterized as a must see and is well worth your time.
Final Thoughts 
The Last Station is a well written and exceedingly well acted film that is well worth your attention and is very highly recommended.
