By pure happenstance, on successive nights I watched two films about Nobel Prize-winning authors who went raging into that good night. Knut Hamsun and Leo Tolstoy were polar opposites in many ways -- as far right and as far left as you can go -- but each was harried (and carried) to his dying day by a long, difficult marriage.
Hamsun is a gripping but alienating pan-Scandinavian production about the Norwegian literary lion who late in life became a notorious supporter of Hitler and Quisling. Swedes are behind the camera and in the title role, a Danish actress plays the wife, and apparently they speak in their respective languages, though I would never know that unless told. Writer-director-cinematographer Jan Troell does not get enough credit as one of the great living masters of film. The inexhaustible Max von Sydow crowns an amazing career with a scary but humane portrait of aging, as the film follows the severe old man from the age of 76 to his death at 92, during which he wants only to be rid of his wife and his life. In the meantime, however, his benighted support of the Nazis leads to a trial for treason after the war and lock-up in a mental institution. Ghita Norby does her level best to make a shrewish Nazi into a sympathetic character, but unavoidably this unhappy marriage does not make for a happy film. Well-done, but not a must-see. (1996, dvd) *6+*
The Last Station may not be a must-see either, but I liked it much more than I was led to believe by some critical dismissals. Writer-director Michael Hoffman adapts Jay Parini’s novel about Tolstoy’s last days with verve and authenticity. Christopher Plummer is very good within the limits of Tolstoy’s own role of sage as proto-celebrity. And Helen Mirren – no surprise here – is outstanding as the Countess Sofya, the author’s wife of 48 years, who is in a struggle for his literary legacy (and his love) with the scheming Paul Giamatti, in effect the press agent who runs the worldwide Tolstoyan brand of idealism. He plants James MacAvoy as secretary-spy in the Count’s household at Yasnaya Polyana, who in turn falls for a free-lovin’ gal (charming Kerry Condon) at the nearby Tolstoyan commune, which makes him more sympathetic to the high-strung Countess than he is supposed to be. The white-bearded apostle of nonviolence is forced to deal with the violent emotions of his retinue, and escapes only to his own death. In the end I did feel the film pushed a little too hard, but nothing like the over-the-top excess I expected from some reviews. Along the way, it seemed funny and true, beautiful and moving, a feast of fine acting. (2009, dvd) *7* (MC-76)
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