Word: sofya
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...writer/director Michael Hoffman's adaptation of Jay Parini's historical novel, Leo Tolstoy is played in grizzly glory by Christopher Plummer. Helen Mirren portrays the mercurial Mrs. Tolstoy, Countess Sofya, who fears her husband - and their fortunes - will be carried out on the shoulders of sycophants. The pairing of these two giants explains why the film, which doesn't open nationwide until February, is making a brief Academy-qualifying appearance in theaters...
...plays out as a parallel to Leo's. Arriving at their woodsy compound, Valentin cheerfully observes that it's a beautiful day. "Yes, but we'll pay for it," says the grumpy Sergeyenko (Patrick Kennedy). Except for a carnal handywoman named Masha (Kerry Condon), who serves as a mini-Sofya to Valentin's mini-Leo, the Tolstoyans are too busy trying to adhere to their standards - vegetarianism, living off the land, practicing celibacy - to appreciate either a beautiful day or the fact that Tolstoy himself doesn't live up to them...
...amenities like swimming pools are a nice touch. Despite the smog overhead, the trees and gardens spaced around the Village ensure a greener feel than in Athens. "In Greece, it was a dust storm," says Canadian boxer Adam Trupish. "You can tell China was prepared." Russian water-polo player Sofya Konukh raves about the TVs and easy Internet access in the Village. "I don't want to say anything bad about Sydney or Athens," she says. "But it's better here...
...Sebryakov is just as successful, but then his job is easier. He grates on everyone, he demands attention and energy from all, and his presence, like that of a great brooding ogre, hangs over the stage when he is off it. Among the one-dimensional characters, Gloria Maddox's Sofya, and Bruce Kornbluth's Telyegin are well put-together too, (though someone ought to get Kornbluth a balaika and get rid of that Everly Brothers-vintage guitar he's stuck with), and Gertrude Crippen's Marina is excellent...
Miss Lerstrom simply does not seem to be alive to all the intricacies of her part. It is impossible to gather from her behavior in Act I that she and Sofya have been antagonistic--and this must be clear by Act II. She has the same half-smile for Astrov, for Vanya, even for Telyegin, when he protests at her forgetting his name. As a result, her dialogue drags; one feels surprise, instead of quiet uneasiness, when her relations with the others are made clear...