conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide a plot for a book about Sofya, Tolstoy\'s, Tolstoy entitled The Last Station.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Last Station: In 1910, the last year of Leo Tolstoy\'s life, his disciples, led by Vladimir Chertkov, manoeuvre against his wife, Sofya, for control over Tolstoy\'s works after his death.\nThe main setting is the Tolstoy country estate of Yasnaya Polyana.\nTolstoy and Sofya have had a long, passionate marriage, but his spiritual ideals and asceticism (he is opposed, for example, to private property) are at odds with her more aristocratic and conventionally religious views.\nContention focuses on a new will that the "Tolstoians" are attempting to persuade him to sign.\nIt would place all of his copyrights into the public domain, supposedly leaving his family without adequate support.\nThe maneuvering is seen through the eyes of Tolstoy\'s new secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, who finds himself mediating between the two sides.\nHe also has a love affair with one of the Tolstoians, Masha.\nUltimately, Tolstoy signs the new will and travels to an undisclosed location where he can continue his work undisturbed.\nAfter his departure, Sofya unsuccessfully attempts suicide.\nDuring the journey, Tolstoy falls ill.\nThe film ends with his death near the Astapovo train station where Sofya is allowed by their daughter to see him just moments before his death.\nThe closing credits state that five years after his death the Russian senate reverted the copyrights of Tolstoy\'s work to Sofya.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Swap the first and the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: \nThe closing credits state that five years after his death the Russian senate reverted the copyrights of Tolstoy\'s work to Sofya.\nThe main setting is the Tolstoy country estate of Yasnaya Polyana.\nTolstoy and Sofya have had a long, passionate marriage, but his spiritual ideals and asceticism (he is opposed, for example, to private property) are at odds with her more aristocratic and conventionally religious views.\nContention focuses on a new will that the "Tolstoians" are attempting to persuade him to sign.\nIt would place all of his copyrights into the public domain, supposedly leaving his family without adequate support.\nThe maneuvering is seen through the eyes of Tolstoy\'s new secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, who finds himself mediating between the two sides.\nHe also has a love affair with one of the Tolstoians, Masha.\nUltimately, Tolstoy signs the new will and travels to an undisclosed location where he can continue his work undisturbed.\nAfter his departure, Sofya unsuccessfully attempts suicide.\nDuring the journey, Tolstoy falls ill.\nThe film ends with his death near the Astapovo train station where Sofya is allowed by their daughter to see him just moments before his death.The Last Station: In 1910, the last year of Leo Tolstoy\'s life, his disciples, led by Vladimir Chertkov, manoeuvre against his wife, Sofya, for control over Tolstoy\'s works after his death.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide a plot for a book about Tolstoy\'s, Tolstoy, Astapovo entitled The Last Station.. Start with the sentence 'The Last Station (novel): The year is 1910, and this novel tells the true story of Tolstoy\'s life in his last days, before he ran away from his wife and family home, taking to the road, where he died in a small railway station called Astapovo, with only his doctor and most beloved daughter, Sasha, in attendance (the film of this novel add Valentin Bulgakov and others to the deathbed scene who were not, in fact, present)'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Last Station (novel): The year is 1910, and this novel tells the true story of Tolstoy\'s life in his last days, before he ran away from his wife and family home, taking to the road, where he died in a small railway station called Astapovo, with only his doctor and most beloved daughter, Sasha, in attendance (the film of this novel add Valentin Bulgakov and others to the deathbed scene who were not, in fact, present).\nThe various narrators, and others in the Tolstoy household and outside of it, were pulling at him, trying to get his attention.\nHe was pulled in a thousand directions at once, and this wore him down.\nIn particular, he found the entreaties of his wife, Sofya, difficult, as she suspected (correctly) that he was plotting with his closest friend, Chertkov, to betray the family by giving away the copyright to his works.\nSofya\'s main concern was the family and the difficulty of maintaining her style of life after her husband\'s death (he was, after all, 82).\nA major subplot of the novel involves Tolstoy\'s young secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, who comes to work with his hero in 1910 and bears witness to the controversies and difficulties surrounding him.\nBulgakov falls in love with Masha, a Tolstoyan, who lives at a nearby compound called Telyatink, where a group of "Tolstoyans" have gathered to live communally and put into practice his ideas: chastity, vegetarianism, and nonviolent resistance to evil.\nLike Tolstoy, these were pacifists who opposed the Tsarist regime.\nThe novel builds dramatically to a climax at the railway station at Astapovo, where Tolstoy thought he was dying alone, although a small army of reporters had gathered from around the world to report on the death of the famous author, who had the status of a saint or rock star in Russian society.\nHis death was major news throughout the world.\nThis novel mines the contradictions between Tolstoy\'s religious and political convictions, and those of his followers, and the luxurious life he found himself living – having been born into the Russian aristocracy and inherited a major estate.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide the first short for the screenplay.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Last Station
  
  EXT. YASNAYA POLYANA. 
  GROUNDS. 
  NIGHT.
  The wind blows the trees around the old house. We see a lighted lamp move up the stairs.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide another medium length scene.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: VALENTIN It goes to Masha...to Maria Filipovna Melinov, Moscow. Thank you.
  EXT. ASTAPOVO. 
  PLATFORM.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide the last scene.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Valentin watches the train pull away. He holds Masha to him.
  As the train moves slowly through the corridor of mourners, some of them fall in and walk behind it. The camera travels up and up as the train travels north taking Sofya and her husband back to Yasnaya Polyana.
  Last Station, The Writers : Michael Hoffman Jan Parini Genres : Drama History User Comments
  Back to IMSDb
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide the first scene for the screenplay.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Last Station
  
  EXT. YASNAYA POLYANA. 
  GROUNDS. 
  NIGHT.9393The wind blows the trees around the old house. We see a lighted lamp move up the stairs.
  INT. YASNAYA POLYANA. 
  LIBRARY. 
  NIGHT.9494Valentin in his makeshift bed.SASHA (O.S.)Valentin. Valentin.He is immediately awake. Sasha, lamp in hand, crouches beside him.SASHAGet up. He’s leaving.VALENTINWhat?SASHAHe´s leaving.
  INT. YASNAYA POLYANA. 
  TOLSTOY’S BEDROOM/STUDY. 
  NIGHT.9595Bags are being prepared. Sasha is packing clothes.TOLSTOY Essentials only. Nothing that isn’t absolutely necessary. Valentin struggles to close a case full of books and papers.TOLSTOYPlease...we must hurry.70.VALENTINWhere will you go?No one responds. Dushan comes to Tolstoy, sits down and begins the ritual taking of the pulse. Meanwhile, Sasha wraps a heavy fur coat around his shoulders. She smiles at him.SASHAAbsolutely essential. 
  DUSHANA lantern, I think. It’s very dark tonight. (beat)And the apparatus for giving an enema.
  EXT. YASNAYA POLYANA. 
  GROUNDS. 
  NIGHT.9696The horses are hitched to the droshky, the bags are up on the back.SASHAEverything’s ready. Dushan climbs into the carriage. Tolstoy turns abruptly and walks back toward the house. 
  SASHAPapa...?DUSHANHe’s changed his mind. He’s going back to the house. They watch as Tolstoy kneels on the wet grass, bending low to rub his hands against the earth. After a moment, Valentin goes to him, kneels next to him.VALENTINDo you want to go back?TOLSTOYWhen I was a boy, my brother Nikolai once brought me to a place when I was a boy. He told me he’d found a green stick with some words on it... the secret to happiness for all men everywhere. He hid it in the ground. I looked for it very often. I’ve looked for it all these years. I really believed I would find it here...but I never did. 71.Tolstoy looks at him.TOLSTOYI never did...but this life is behind me now. He kisses the ground of his beloved home, gets up and they walk back to the droshky.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide another scene.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: CHERTKOVAnd we’ll be ready.VALENTINReady for what?83.Chertkov doesn’t respond.DUSHANI’m sorry, but it’s time for your enema.TOLSTOYDon’t apologize, my friend. Your enemas(hic)have become the news of the world.(smiles)Now, all of you, help turn me over.
  INT. ASTAPOVO. 
  STATIONMASTER’S HOUSE. 
  NIGHT.123123Everyone is asleep. Valentin keeps a vigil at Tolstoy’s bedside. His rest is fitful, his breathing ragged. Valentin stands and walks out.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Provide the last scene.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: SOFYAOh!
  EXT. ASTAPOVO. 
  PLATFORM. 
  DAY.150150Sofya looks out the window, sees the people lined up along the rail, mourn her loss. As she looks away, we see the people reflected in the glass, some of them kneel, some of them remove their hats. Valentin watches the train pull away. He holds Masha to him.As the train moves slowly through the corridor of mourners, some of them fall in and walk behind it. The camera travels up and up as the train travels north taking Sofya and her husband back to Yasnaya Polyana.99.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: SOFYAOh!
  EXT. ASTAPOVO. 
  PLATFORM. 
  DAY.150150Sofya looks out the window, sees the people lined up along the rail, mourn her loss. As she looks away, we see the people reflected in the glass, some of them kneel, some of them remove their hats. Valentin watches the train pull away. He holds Masha to him.As the train moves slowly through the corridor of mourners, some of them fall in and walk behind it. The camera travels up and up as the train travels north taking Sofya and her husband back to Yasnaya Polyana.