An Ordinary Execution (2009)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 185
Movie Info
Novelist Marc Dugain both wrote and directed this screen adaptation of his novel about the last days of one of the 20th Century's most infamous leaders. In 1952, Jospeh Stalin (Andre Dussollier) is in failing health after a long tenure as the unquestioned ruler of the Soviet Union. Stalin is also in the market for a new personal physician, as his longtime doctor has fallen to one of the leader's frequent purges of people he regards as untrustworthy. Anna (Marina Hands) is a doctor who has a fine
Dec 31, 2010 Wide
StudioCanal
Cast
-
André Dussollier
Jospeh Stalin -
Marina Hands
Anna -
Edouard Baer
Vasily -
Denis Podalydès
Concierge -
Tom Novembre
Hospital Director
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All Critics (9) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (1)
Imposing, yet slightly academic.
Top CriticDramatically speaking it's a bit too flat and seems more suited to theatre...
With a thoughtful and introspective tone, this film continually surprises us as its story unfurls and a young doctor's life takes a strange and portentous turn, colliding with one of history's most notorious figures.
Always mesmerising, Dussollier's Stalin is a portrait of a leader whose frailties are matched only by his capacity for evil.
It is permeated with a gut-wrenching reality about a historical period that's insufficiently understood and in present-day Russia viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
At times overcomplicated with needless plot additives, but with no previous filmmaking experience Dugain has produced a taut and thoroughly enjoyable historical drama.
A movie that's impeccably played and chillingly compelling.
Shot in a gloomy palette of greys and browns, Execution offers a chilling re-creation of everyday life under Stalin.
André Dussolier (MicMacs) is perfect as the Russian despot, managing to convey the sense of someone physically fragile at the same time as inspiring constant dread
Audience Reviews for An Ordinary Execution
The omnipresence of suspicion and surveillance between common citizens is well described and scary. Nobody is afforded happiness, and if they do, something is wrong. The film, through its slow introspective pace, photography, dark and gloomy colours and acting, is a good illustration of what it must have felt during that time, or could well illustrates George Orwell's 1984.
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Movie: ID: 770859388 Title: An Ordinary Execution Release Date: 2010-12-31 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 6 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- An Ordinary Execution (Une execution ordinaire) (DE)
- An Ordinary Execution (Une execution ordinaire) (UK)
How glad we are not to be Russian. (even though I am of Russian descent). How lucky that my Grand-Mother fled from such an evil & horrific place. As we know, Stalin killed 30 million of his own people.