The Death of Stalin

A comedy certainly, but very much of the black variety.  It's 1953, Stalin is found unconscious in his bedroom, and dies shortly after.  Which opens the door to the other members of the Central Committee to start jockeying for position and take what power they can, while Svetlana and Vasily, Stalin's children, face an uncertain future.

Initially the leadership falls to Malenkov, Stalin's nominated deputy, but it soon becomes clear that he's week, unable to form alliances.  Beria holds the strongest cards (he controls the NKVD, the secret police), is quickest off the mark in staking his territory, and quickly demonstrates his ruthlessness.  Khruschev is the peacemaker, looking to build up the relationships which we already know will see him ultimately succeed.  The others eye each other warily, or bluster to cover their own fears, but lack the determination to get the top job.  The action ends only a few weeks after Stalin's death, but the winners and losers are starting to be obvious already.

It might be a comedy, but the horror of the Stalinist regime is all there.  The indiscriminate arrests, torture and murder of anyone who gets on the wrong side of the authorities is a constant background theme,  Beria casually walks along discussing lists of victims while all around him people are being beaten and shot.  Right from the start the fear is there, when Stalin calls a concert hall to ask the radio director to send him a recording of that evening's orchestral performance.  Rather than admit that no recording was made the director forces the musicians and audience to sit through it all again, clearly terrified of the consequences for him if no record is available for the dictator.

Like that scene, the comedy comes less from the lines themselves (although Paul Whitehouse's Mikoyan gets some crackers), and mostly from the ridiculous antics of the central characters, all the mental gymnastics, fallacious logic, lies and self deception needed to remain a part of the upper echelon of the political system.  They scheme, manipulate, back down, change allegiances, anything to secure their own futures.  It's a steroidal, and potentially deadly, version of the power games played out on any committee or group where people are out for what they can get.

Simon Russell Beale is a great Beria, callous, conniving, terrifying when he needs to be, while Steve Buscemi plays Khruschev as a much smoother character, patient, clever and ready to play the long game.  There are standout performances from Andrea Riseborough as the tyrant's daughter, struggling to come to terms with the new reality, Michael Palin as the bend-with-the-wind Molotov, and, my personal favourite, Jason Isaacs clearly having tremendous fun as the forceful man of action, General Zhukov.

There aren't a lot of strong images, but it's a film strong on atmosphere, with plenty of background showing the horrors of a totalitarian state.  It probably helps the viewer if they know a little about the real life characters, but it's not essential to enjoying the film.  And, despite the dark subject matter, it's a very successful comedy.

But a  comedy with a chilling edge