Helen Mirren is a lusty, roaring wonder playing, of all things, the long-suffering wife of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer in peak form). Countess Sofya, married to the old man for 48 years and the mother of his 13 children, is beside herself over her husband's decision — in the last year of his life — to will the rights to his great literary works not to her but to, of all things, the Russian people.

Sofya faints dead away at the sight of Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti channeling Uriah Heep), who manages the utopian movement that Tolstoy founded. She spits contempt at Chertkov, calling him her husband's"boyfriend," and rages at the very sight of him.

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Mirren has worn the crowns of Elizabeth I and II on screen, but she's never played a drama queen like Sofya. To watch her threaten, cajole and seduce her husband is a treat Oscar voters cannot ignore. The incomparable Mirrenis simply astounding. And Plummer, red-faced with embarrassment at his owndesire for his wife after all these years, is her match. The sight of these two acting giants going at each other should come under the heading of pure, rowdy pleasure.

The film itself, energetically directed and written by Michael Hoffman, can't always rise to the level of its two dynamo stars, though James McAvoygets in some tasty licks as Valentin Bulgakov, Tolstoy's worshipful secretary. By the end, when the estranged Tolstoys say their final goodbye sat a train station, you'll be too much in thrall to care.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”