SYNOPSIS:

The film, based on Jay Parini's 1990 novel, explores the turbulent final year in the life of the Russian writer and philosopher Tolstoy and his troubled marriage to wife, Sofia.

Giamatti plays Tolstoy's trusted follower Chertkov, a supporter of the writer's nonviolent socialist Christian movement who becomes Sofia's cunning adversary, while McAvoy plays a naive private secretary sent by Chertkov to work for Tolstoy. British actress Anne-Marie Duff stars as Tolstoy's daughter Sasha.