Pre-Communist 1917 revolution is the backdrop for this drama which features a totally over-the-top performance by Helen Mirren as the Countess Tolstoy, and Christopher Plummer as the great writer Leo Tolstoy. Both Mirren and Plummer were nominated for Oscars in the best actress and supporting actor divisions, respectively and deservedly lost to Sandra Bullock and Christoph Waltz, respectively.
The movie is a slow moving one with a sidebar story of Tolstoy's social secretary finding love in the commune that the writer has set up.
The film is extremely slow moving and brooding with Paul Giamatti, the friend of Plummer, stealing every scene that he is in. Conniving and supposedly loyal to his friend, he sets forth a changing of the will to supposedly help Tolstoy's cause of peace which sets him against Mirren.
As shown in the film, the peasants didn't look like they had it that bad which is a major flaw of the film. In fact, Mirren seems to be suffering even more. Is she that money hungry, desperate for love or just what?
The movie is a slow moving one with a sidebar story of Tolstoy's social secretary finding love in the commune that the writer has set up.
The film is extremely slow moving and brooding with Paul Giamatti, the friend of Plummer, stealing every scene that he is in. Conniving and supposedly loyal to his friend, he sets forth a changing of the will to supposedly help Tolstoy's cause of peace which sets him against Mirren.
As shown in the film, the peasants didn't look like they had it that bad which is a major flaw of the film. In fact, Mirren seems to be suffering even more. Is she that money hungry, desperate for love or just what?