An Ordinary Execution review

Set in Moscow in the winter of ’52, this unsettling debut from French writer/director Marc Dugain imagines a series of encounters between an ailing Joseph Stalin (André Dussollier) and a young, married doctor (Marina Hands), who is reputed to have healing powers.

Suspicious of her loyalties, the dictator arranges for her scientist husband (Edourd Baer) to be arrested and tortured.

Shot in a gloomy palette of greys and browns, Execution offers a chilling re-creation of everyday life under Stalin.

Credibly acted, the net effect is suitably stifling.