"That really introduced me to the whole drama of Tolstoy's last years," Parini said of his discovery of the diaries, in an interview with The Dartmouth.
In the film, Valentin finds Tolstoy torn by two conflicting forces. Tolstoy seeks to reconcile his ideals his professed desire to free himself from earthly distractions such as money and sex, with help of Vladimir Chertkov with the reality of his life with his wife Countess Sofya. Chertkov, a member of Tolstoy's literary and ideological circle, and Sofya both give the impressionable assistant a diary, instructing him to spy on the other.
"The story is really about the conflict between having ideals such as Tolstoy's philosophical, political and religious ideals and then the real practicalities of everyday life and love. You know, marriage and children, dealing with the people one's living around," Parini said.
After receiving encouragement from the late actor Anthony Quinn, Parini spent the next 10 years attempting to adapt his novel into a screenplay. But a disparity between Quinn's artistic vision and that of Parini made the process difficult Quinn, hoping to play Tolstoy in the film, wanted Parini to adjust the focus of his novel, placing more emphasis on Tolstoy and less on Sofya. This idea clashed with the original format of the novel, which is told from six perspectives and features Sofya as a major narrator.
The project came to a halt following Quinn's death in 2001, until director and screenwriter Michael Hoffman began a new adaptation, he said.
"[Hoffman] chose to do [a screenplay] very focused on the marriage and the Tolstoys. It is more of a Chekhov play than a Tolstoy novel. He decided not to go for epic but to go for a closet drama," Parini said of the differences between his novel and the adapted screenplay.
The film's cast is a picture of perfection the ensemble of Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer and Paul Giammatti brings a lifelike quality to each character. McAvoy adopts a nervous innocence for his portrayal of Valentin Bulgakov, a devout Tolstoy follower hired to be Tolstoy's personal secretary. McAvoy is particularly effective as Valentin in a scene in which the character cries upon meeting the celebrated author, in awe that his idol desires to not discuss his own work, but Valentin's comparatively unimportant essays instead.
Valentin is a character that the audience identifies with like viewers, Valentin suddenly finds himself caught up in the confusing mess of Tolstoy's personal and public images, struggling to make sense of it all. Complicating the conflict between Tolstoy's identity as a writer and his identity as a husband is the presence of the opposing characters of Chertkov and Sofya, who both attempt to exert their influence over Valentin. In giving Valentin the diaries, both Chertkov and Sofya use Valentin as a tool in their own plans.
Sofya is a tumultuous character and Mirren, who has received an Academy Award nomination for the role, ferociously claims the screen. Sofya, angered by her husband's loss of interest in her opinions, does not accept defeat easily. Breaking plates, shooting off rounds and attempting suicide, she fancies herself his Anna Karenina. Introduced to Tolstoy at age 18, when he was 16 years her senior, Sofya at least as presented by the film is able to read into every line of his face and every letter he writes. Having copied "War and Peace" by hand six times from beginning to end, she scoffs at Valentin's comparably limited two readings.
Valentin's character undergoes a transformation in the film: as he spends time with Tolstoy, he begins to see through the facade of Tolstoyan ideology, sympathizing with Sofya and siding against Chertkov. The audience aligns itself with Sofya and Valentin's perspective, especially when Tolstoy flees his estate in a fit of frustration and Chertkov prevents Sofya from seeing her husband when he falls ill at a nearby railway station. The strong connection between audience and character makes this film extremely enjoyable, preventing viewers from feeling distanced from a potentially pretentious topic.
Valentin's transformation is encouraged by his romantic interest in Masha (Kerry Condon), with whom he lives on a commune. Masha brings Valentin tea followed by other less wholesome favors, going against the Tolstoyan commitment to celibacy. She see faults in Chertkov's ideologies, championing "freedom and love" over rules and regulations.
According to Parini, Masha is the film's sole fictitious character. He said he created the character for the novel because he felt Valentin needed a love interest, adding that he was pleased that Condon was cast in the role.
"When I first was in the hotel I had never met Kerry Condon, but I saw her standing out in the sunlight on the deck of the hotel," Parini said. "I knew at once it was Masha. I grabbed her by the hand and said Masha' and she laughed."
A film filled with subtle layers, Hoffman's adaptation highlights both historical and personal elements present in Parini's novel. In addition to creating a complex dichotomy between Tolstoy's ideals and the reality of his life, the film is also an exploration of our concept of celebrity, casting journalists at the time as proto-paparazzi. And though the relationship between Tolstoy and Sofya is turbulent to say the least ("You don't need a husband, you need a Greek chorus," the author thunders at his wife), the film also depicts subtle signs of affection between the two. The film is a complicated one that should encourage at least some viewers to pursue Tolstoy's works in order to better understand the ideology behind them.
