"The Last Station" may well be the greatest film ever made about a feud over copyright.

She helped to write "War and Peace," making the character of Natasha more assertive. She copied the 1225-page book by hand six times.

She also bore him 13 children, but was denied physical contact once he embraced chastity, in contrast with his "depraved youth."

And so, it's small wonder that after almost a half a century of marriage, Sofia Andreyevna had some expectations of entitlement upon the impending death of Lev Nikolayevich - especially the copyright to the works of the world's most famous writer.

Just to thicken the (real-life) plot, Countess Tolstoy was an unbearable drama queen, who both truly loved her husband and pretty much hounded him to death. Is it possible for anyone to play this role? Oh my! and how - Helen Mirren giving the best performance of her royally distinguished career.

"The Last Station," a wonderful film by Michael Hoffman (of "One Fine Day" and "Restoration"), chronicles those confusing and dramatic days in 1910 in Yasnaya Polyana, leading to a small railroad station in far-away Astapovo (located in what was later named the Lev-Tolstovsky District).

There Tolstoy, in a desperate flight from Sofia, died, giving Christopher Plummer - in the film - the opportunity for a truly magnificent scene.

Besides Hoffman's script (based on Jay Parini's 1990 novel) and direction, "The Last Station" is also blessed with an amazing cast, in addition to Mirren and Plummer.

The protagonist of the story is James McAvoy, as Valentin Bulgakov, Tolstoy's young assistant then, creator of an encyclopedia of Russian writers later. As in many TV and film roles, especially in "The Last King of Scotland," McAvoy is both powerful and subtle in his acting.

It's somewhat surprising to see Paul Giamatti in a British cast, but he is exactly right as Vladimir Chertkov, leader of the Tolstoyan community, ruthless in his noble cause of persuading Tolstoy to leave his entire estate to the Russian people.

Anne-Marie Duff is Sasha, Tolstoy's daughter caught between her warring parents. Kerry Condon (Octavia in the HBO "Rome") is Masha, who becomes Bulgakov's lover and conscience.

"The Last Station" is a rare two-hour-long movie that you'd like to stay with longer.