It's hard to tell what is good or bad about Charkov in "The Last Station", but at least he is not Tolstoy's true bosom friend, because he is depriving people of the right to love, from the very beginning Lentin's interview ends with him preventing Sophia from meeting Tolstoy. Of course, including the doctor Du Shan and Sernenko of Taryatinki, they never really understood the saint in their minds.
Du Shan, in addition to examining Tolstoy's body, also carried a pen and paper with him, recording Toon's words and deeds all the time. At a field party, he brought a recording of Tolstoy's speech, thinking it would excite Toon, however, Tolstoy said "very boring" and left the table with no interest.
Look at that Sernenko again, there is simply no love between men and women in his eyes. After Valentine fell in love with Masha, his eyes always revealed ruthlessness and hatred, and together with Charkov, Masha left Taryatinki. And when Tolstoy signed the will that handed over the copyright of his works to the people, Tolstoy said bitterly, "I am a conspirator" because of his apology to his wife and family. Ernenko actually laughed out loud, it was a smug laugh, because they defeated Sofia. Such a man, can we say that he is a true follower of Tolstoy?
The entire movie takes place in Sophia's hysteria. But this woman really knew Tolstoy, she loved him and he loved her. They quarreled only because of their different positions, Tolstoy stood for the whole of humanity, while Sophia, as a wife, as a mother, only stood for the family. Just because they quarrel doesn't mean they don't love each other. So Sophia could replace the recording of Tolstoy's speech with a beautiful opera, and Tolstoy stopped, turned, said, "It's better this way," and then, with his wife, who had been arguing a minute earlier, Hug away. Another quarrel ended, Tolstoy came home, Sophia lay on the bed, "Darling, yes, we're all old, but I'm still your little hen, and you're still my big cock, Let me learn to croak like you, let me learn to sing." The two people who were blushing necks group turned into two urchins in an instant. Tolstoy jumped into bed, and Thor echoed in the manor late at night. Stey's croaking and laughter.
It's just that Sophia can't stand the so-called followers who follow Tolstoy all day long. There are no more secrets between husband and wife. What's worse, Tolstoy trusts Charkov more than himself, and Charko The husband even made his position public, and was very unfriendly to Sophia, even threatening her. Charkov wanted Tolstoy to be a saint, as Valentine finally told him, a saint who was "you and no longer himself." But Sophia doesn't need her husband to be a saint, she just needs him to love and trust his wife like an ordinary husband. At the beginning of the film, in the early morning of the Bollinger Manor, Sophia was lying beside her husband, shouting "Darling" again and again, grabbing her husband's hand again and again, and asking him to put himself into his arms. All this, It shows the heart of this gray-haired woman.
Sophia's love for Tolstoy and her understanding over the decades, Tolstoy himself also recognized it, so she told Valentine the little story before marriage. But they are like two parallel lines, staring at each other for a lifetime, but in the end they can't meet. On the matter of the new will, Charkov's strong instigation is indeed a bit unrighteous for Tolstoy's family.
Tolstoy eventually ran away from home because he could not bear Sofia's hysteria, and wrote to Sofia: I want to spend the rest of my life in solitude and tranquility. However, is he really peaceful without Sophia? When he was seriously ill and finally had to stop at the train station in Yastapovo, every morning, crowds of reporters gathered outside the station, they pitched their tents to follow him, and Dr. Du Shan held a press conference every day. The same report on Tolstoy's condition. The old man left his beloved wife in exchange for such so-called tranquility.
When Tolstoy was getting worse, he told the people around Sophia that Sophia would come. He knew that she would come, and she really came. But Charkov prevented them from seeing each other. What kind of right does he have to deprive a legal couple from meeting. Tolstoy called Sophia's name and "Darling" on his deathbed, and Charkov asked them to meet after saying "perhaps he doesn't know who she is now". Such a person simply does not understand the love and freedom in the eyes of Tolstoy.
There are two threads running in parallel throughout the film. One is the quarrel between the Tolstoys, and the other is the love between Valentine and Martha. The former is a couple who have lived for many years, and the latter is a pair of lovers who have just fallen in love. Because of her beliefs, Valentine's love is cowardly, but Martha has lived in Taryatinki for many years, and she has long seen the hypocrisy of Charkov and others. For love and freedom, for Tolstoy, she has more real and deeper understanding. The love of Martha and the love of the Toons awakens Valentine, so in the end, he doesn't become like Charkov either. This is really lucky.
In 1914, the Russian upper house ruled that Sofia inherited all copyrights from her husband. Shortly after Sofia's death, Charkov published a pamphlet called "The Exodus of Tolstoy". The attitude towards Sofia in the book can be imagined. Gorky, a writer of real civilian origin, came out to defend Sophia.
All this has nothing to do with Tolstoy. Fortunately, when he died, his wife was sitting beside him, he knew all this, and cast a weak smile. It was also the scene that finally gave me a breather.
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