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The Last Station (2009)

tomatometer

70

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 137
Fresh: 96 | Rotten: 41

Michael Hoffman's script doesn't quite live up to its famous subject, but this Tolstoy biopic benefits from a spellbinding tour de force performance by Helen Mirren.

83

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 5

Michael Hoffman's script doesn't quite live up to its famous subject, but this Tolstoy biopic benefits from a spellbinding tour de force performance by Helen Mirren.

audience

65

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 19,424

My Rating

Movie Info

The final year of Russian socialist writer Leo Tolstoy's life comes to the screen with Christopher Plummer in the lead role and Helen Mirren portraying his wife, Sofya. Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, and Anne-Marie Duff co-star in the Warner Bros. production, directed by Michael Hoffman from the novel by Jay Parini. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Drama

Michael Hoffman

Jun 22, 2010

$6.2M

Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

All Critics (137) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (98) | Rotten (42) | DVD (5)

Some critics have derided the central performances as scenery-chewing excess, but these Tolstoys are characters who demand histrionics, and Mirren and Plummer are magnificent in delivering on those demands.

March 2, 2010 Full Review Source: Film.com | Comment
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Last Station is a moving, fictionalized account of a piece of real Russian history, a tour de force for an actor who's in his prime in his 70s and 80s, and a real return to form for a director most at home in period pieces.

February 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director and writer Michael Hoffman, adapting Jay Parini's novel, lets the history play out, and this little-known chapter plays out nicely indeed.

February 12, 2010 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comment
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If you come to this expecting the philosophical depth and psychological detail of Tolstoy's work you're sure to be disappointed, but as an actors' romp it's delectable.

February 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If the operatic emotional pitch ultimately proves unsustainable (not to mention tiresome), the film is full of captivating details.

February 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An actor can be 80 years old, but give him fake whiskers and a pair of heavy boots, and he'll stomp through a two-hour movie like a happy kid.

February 4, 2010 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mature Tolstoy biopic recounts his conflicted last days.

December 31, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

The Last Station is the kind of adult drama that I'm just thankful is still being made. Therefore, I was ecstatic to also find it to be rather good.

October 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Quickflix | Comment

A surprisingly cheery film in between the plate-smashing rows.

August 18, 2010 Full Review Source: The Standard | Comment

full review at Movies for the Masses

July 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | Comment
Movies for the Masses

Feels akin to using Tolstoy's life to write a greeting card.

July 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | Comment
Window to the Movies

La pelķcula es un placer de principio a fin, no sólo por su valor testimonial y su estupenda reconstrucción de época, sino sobre todo por un notable elenco donde se lucen particularmente Helen Mirren y Christopher Plummer.

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

All of the performances are universally stellar, making this not unlike last year's Doubt %u2014 a solid, if otherwise unremarkable film that provides a playground for performers of prodigious talents.

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: DCist | Comment

Plummer as the alleged Tolstoy in question, is a grumpy elder aristocrat presiding over a kinky retro-hippie spiritual commune, where worshipful 19th century Russian groupies of the carnal variety frolic free love style in the Eastern European wilderness.

June 11, 2010 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Plummer as the alleged Tolstoy in question, is a grumpy elder aristocrat presiding over a kinky retro-hippie spiritual commune, where worshipful 19th century Russian groupies of the carnal variety frolic free love style in the Eastern European wilderness.

June 11, 2010 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

A charming and compelling account of Tolstoy's last year.

June 9, 2010 Full Review Source: Flicks.co.nz | Comment
Flicks.co.nz

Despite its strong performances The Last Station is a bland and middle-of-the-road period film with faint literary pretensions.

April 10, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Autopsy | Comment (1)
Cinema Autopsy

This handsome, well-tuned adaptation of Jay Parini's Tolstoy biography avoids being a dour subtitled slog by its strong casting, layered contrasts of love and duty, and admirable air of enthusiasm.

April 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Sunday Times (Australia) | Comment
Sunday Times (Australia)

The acting is excellent by this very capable cast, and the story is interesting. The cinematography, by Sebastian Edschmid (Adam Resurrected) is also excellent. The outdoor scenes are lush and gorgeous.

April 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

Despite all the bitterness and skulduggery, The Last Station is surprisingly warm and spirited in tone.

April 2, 2010 Full Review Source: The Australian | Comment
The Australian

In the end the film is quite moving, and the original home movie and newsreel footage we see over the end credits adds a potent touch to the drama we've already seen.

April 1, 2010 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | Comment
At the Movies (Australia)

Helen Mirren gives a scorching performance as Sophia: aggrieved, charming, seductive, furious, painted by the acolytes as hysterical, but also at times a woman with her own dignity.

April 1, 2010 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | Comment
MovieTime, ABC Radio National

The Last Station has got its charms, but it's hard to take its big ideas too seriously, mostly because Hoffman's pitch is a little too cute.

April 1, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au | Comment
sbs.com.au

Impressively directed and finely acted, this film gives real insight into the life of a fascinating man.

April 1, 2010 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | Comment
FILMINK (Australia)

A superb cast all at their best help breath life into this biographical story of the last chapter of writer and philosopher (and liberal leaning aristocrat) Leo Tolstoy

March 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Last Station

Any chance to see Helen Mirren work is worth the price of admission. "The Last Station" is a tour de force for Miren in full bloom - a force of nature that can't be denied, elevating what would have been a rather pedestrian and unsatisfactory period piece to moments of brilliance. It's not that her co-stars

December 24, 2011
maxthesax
paul sandberg

Super Reviewer

Intoxicating. Infuriating. Impossible. Love. This movie is good and has some important significance on the life of Leo Tolstoy. Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy all gave truly really good performances. I don't rate it so high because it's not really my type of movie and to be sincere it bored me a

March 2, 2010
xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
Manu Gino

Super Reviewer

    1. Sofya Tolstoy: Look at me! This is who I am, *this* is what you married. We may be older, maybe we're old, but I'm still your little chicken. And you're still my big cock.
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)
    1. Sofya Tolstoy: I'm your little bird, you know the sounds I make.
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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Latest News for The Last Station

February 9, 2011:
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July 2, 2010:
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Foreign Titles

  • Ein russischer Sommer (DE)
  • Tolstoļ, le dernier automne (FR)
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