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Feb 09, 2018Nursebob rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Michael Hoffman’s adaptation of Jay Parini’s novel is an exercise in lost opportunities and misfired direction which nevertheless manages to entertain if only on a superficial level. Plummer and Mirren certainly deserved their Oscar nominations but their characters appear insubstantial—Tolstoy’s genius is reduced to a few bon mots as Plummer scowls and growls like a loveable old bear, Mirren’s shrill harridan flips between weepy histrionics and plate-smashing defiance, and in the background Giamatti twirls his waxed moustache like a silent film villain and McAvoy’s star-struck naif waffles about with a perpetual tear clinging to the corner of each eye. The music is stirring however (especially those ironic opera passages) and the German locales stand in admirably for the decaying opulence of pre-Revolutionary Russia although the crew did get permission to film on the grounds of Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy’s former estate—it’s rough splendour lending some legitimacy to the ongoing soap. Even an early example of soviet paparazzi make an appearance as Leo and Sofya can’t seem to leave the house without being surrounded by scribbling journalists and hand-cranked cameras. Sadly, all the ingredients of a truly great biopic are here but Hoffman just doesn’t get the recipe right.