Watched The Last Station over the weekend--starring Mirren and Plummer. It's apparently reasonably accurate depiction of Tolstoy's last days and the conflict with his wife, Sophia. It's good, not great, if you like such pictures, as we do.
The director's commentary was interesting. Most of the movie was filmed in various German places, because they had both the financial incentives and the infrastructure, in contrast with Russia which was disorganized and a crap shoot. He commented he wanted the villa where the Tolstoys lived to be a bit dirty, because it was the center of a lot of farming activity (a commune) and lots of people going in and out. But despite his best efforts, the German crew would keep cleaning up the dirt.
Given my mother's folks came from Germany, I've experienced that mania, although I've fortunately escaped it myself.
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