An Ordinary Execution

French drama adapted by writer/director Marc Dugain from his own novel. Set in 1950s Moscow, the film imagines the relationship between aging Russian dictator Joseph Stalin (Andre Dussolier) and a gifted young female doctor, Anna (Marina Hands), who is summoned to the Kremlin to care for Stalin as the infirmities of old age overtake him. Anna sets about her work uneasily, aware that anything she does to displease her tyrannical patient could lead to her being 'purged' in the same perfunctory manner as her predecessor.

As the ailing dictator rambles and reminisces on his deathbed, his warped philosophy of terror is subtly revealed.