Business & Finance Club - Cinema : In one of The Last Station’s most dramatic scenes, an agitated Leo Tolstoy mutters to his wife Sofya Tolstaya: “Despite good cause for it, I have never stopped loving you. But God knows you don’t make it easy!”

“Why should it be easy?” she asks, belligerently, adding, through her tears, “I am the work of your life, you are the work of mine. That’s what love is!”

Both tender and disconcerting, that scene, in many ways, forms the crux of this beautifully made 2009 Michael Hoffman film, which has only just released in the UAE, and lucidly illustrates the tumultuous relationship shared by Tolstoy, one of the greatest novelists of the 19th Century, and his wife Sofya in his final years.

Tolstoy, as recorded by historians and as depicted in the film, in his final years became increasingly radical and sought to reject his inherited wealth, including the renunciation of the copyrights on all his works. For this, he is egged on by his committed followers, Tolstoyans, who hold the belief that his great works should belong to the Russian people. Tolstoy’s wife Sofya, who has also dedicated her life to his cause as secretary, proof-reader and financial manager, rejects this ideology. And a struggle begins.

Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, both Oscar nominated for their roles as Tolstoy and Sofya bring so much depth and intensity to their roles, you are left torn between supporting the great author’s ideologies and the responsibility he has towards his family who have nurtured and inspired him.

Tolstoy, it is said, set out to be a wandering ascetic at 82, eventually making a stop at a railway station, unable to continue due to pneumonia. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the movie, a dying Tolstoy is seen mumbling Sofya’s name, asking his caretakers if she had come to look for him, only to realise he had abandoned her.

A subtle reminder that sometimes, all that the greatest thinkers, idealists and heroes need, is love.