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MOYES ON FILM: Death of Stalin mixes obscene violence with slapstick

Performances by Jeffrey Tambor and Steve Buscemi make for an enjoyable film
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Robert Moyes

Monday Magazine columnist

Fans of HBO’s profane political satire Veep will doubtless savour The Death of Stalin, which shows what writer-director Armando Iannucci can get up to when he shifts from TV to the big screen.

Set in 1953 and very much based on the historic record, Death is a grotesque, darkly funny account of what happened when the murderous Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin keeled over from a massive stroke. As the surviving members of the ruling inner circle scheme to fill the power vacuum in a country run by terror – literally millions of citizens have either been starved to death, shot, tortured or shipped off for years to frozen gulags after being suspected of ideological impurity – it’s a high-stakes, endlessly cynical game where losing could be fatal.

Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent) is technically the new interim ruler, but he is so weak and maladroit that two others are desperate to elbow him aside. As well as the ambitious and wily Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi, Fargo) there is the sadistic chief of the secret police, Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale), who’s been the country’s Torturer in Chief for many bloody years. These men are vicious and ruthless parasites, yet their every move and utterance is made with an eye to maintaining the appearance of political purity, lest they somehow be judged enemies of the state by their jealous rivals.

From the looting of Stalin’s fancy dacha just hours after his death, to arguing whether it’s appropriate to temporarily postpone the relentless purging of suspect citizens, this is palace intrigue at its most gangsterish – especially when schemes culminate with the casual executions of hapless minions trapped between rival factions.

The obscene violence is regularly contrasted with gleefully lowbrow slapstick, such as when Stalin’s body is lugged around like a sack of potatoes, or the ineffectual Malenkov makes clumsy efforts to find a cute young girl as a stage prop for his first public speech. But the script never quite fuses the comedy with the horror, and the result is that Iannucci’s satire lacks the coherence of a classic black comedy such as Doctor Strangelove.

That said, the performances are very enjoyable and the dialogue is studded with viciously zingy one-liners. And without being overt about it, the film nicely conjures up hints of the toxic circus that is presently assailing the White House under Trump.

Rating: ***1/2

Stars: Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor

Directed by: Armando Iannucci

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