Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren received Academy Award nominations for their roles as Russian author Lev* Tolstoy and Countess Sofya Tolstaya, respectively. The movie focuses on the "War and Peace" author's last few weeks alive in 1910, and is told through the eyes of young Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), a young secretary sent to work for Tolstoy.
I should say that the portrayal of Sofya's frustration with her husband's dying wishes (to leave his work to the Russian people, thereby leaving her nothing) was pretty over-the-top, but I could understand her feelings. I thought that the movie could have gone into Tolstoy's revolutionary sentiments that he expressed in his novels, but I found it to be a pretty good movie overall. I recommend it.
I should also note that I could hear some mispronunciations. They said soh-FEE-ya an-dray-EV-na, when the correct pronunciation is SOH-fya an-DRAY-ev-na. Also, the word for exit at the end of the movie used the modern spelling without the hard sign (which Russian dropped after the revolution).
But mostly it's a really good movie. Also starring Paul Giamatti, Anne-Marie Duff and Kerry Condon.
*In English, we usually say Leo Tolstoy, but Lev (Russian for "lion") is the name in Russian.
I should say that the portrayal of Sofya's frustration with her husband's dying wishes (to leave his work to the Russian people, thereby leaving her nothing) was pretty over-the-top, but I could understand her feelings. I thought that the movie could have gone into Tolstoy's revolutionary sentiments that he expressed in his novels, but I found it to be a pretty good movie overall. I recommend it.
I should also note that I could hear some mispronunciations. They said soh-FEE-ya an-dray-EV-na, when the correct pronunciation is SOH-fya an-DRAY-ev-na. Also, the word for exit at the end of the movie used the modern spelling without the hard sign (which Russian dropped after the revolution).
But mostly it's a really good movie. Also starring Paul Giamatti, Anne-Marie Duff and Kerry Condon.
*In English, we usually say Leo Tolstoy, but Lev (Russian for "lion") is the name in Russian.