The Death Of Stalin
- 2017 film
Comedy film directed by Armando Iannucci about the last days of Joseph Stalin and the chaos after his death. Also features Simon Russell Beale, Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Palin, Paul Whitehouse and more.
Streaming rank this week: 66
Press clippings Page 5
The Death Of Stalin a dazzling black Russian comedy
Master of political satire Armando Iannucci takes his trademark high-stakes back-stabbing farce east with The Death Of Stalin, a ghoulish black comedy that deftly melds historical fact and bile-drenched fiction.
Damon Smith, The Irish News, 18th October 2017The Death of Stalin review
This witty, dark story is held back by an outsider vision. It makes us think that maybe the Stalin terror and its aftermath isn't such a good subject for comedy after all.
Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 18th October 2017The Death of Stalin - an audacious comedy of horrors
Armando Iannucci's Soviet-era satire is full of grand absurdity and violent dread.
Danny Leigh, The Financial Times, 18th October 2017The Death of Stalin: amusing, though not clever satire
Stalin dies, giving rise to a lot of averted eyes, thinking on one's feet and winging it in the Kremlin, in Armando Iannucci's passable screwball comedy which might aspire to satire but actually isn't so.
Paddy Kehoe, RTE, 18th October 2017The Death of Stalin and the art of screen swearing
How the writers of Veep and 'The Thick of It brought their gift for profanity to Stalinist Russia.
Joseph Walsh, The Financial Times, 17th October 2017Review: The Death Of Stalin
Brutal yet consistently humorous, the film makes caricatures of historical figures, retaining the tone of the graphic novel that inspired it.
Mersa Auda, The Upcoming, 16th October 2017The Death of Stalin review
Armando Iannucci's superlative satire brings together a terrific ensemble.
Eamm Simmonds, The List, 16th October 2017The Death of Stalin film review
Blimey, but this is a comedy, isn't it? This is a mockery and so it's intended to be barbaric and exaggerated, right? Well, comedy is not a carte blanche for bigotry. There are limits of what's acceptable. We have grown to dismiss blackface and exaggerated representations of homosexuals as a no-go. I think that the humour of The Death of Stalin is plainly founded on xenophobia and prejudices, and so it belongs in a very similar category. Laughing at someone dead on a pool of piss is neither funny nor subversive. It's simply silly and vulgar. Despite the presence of Michael Palin, The Death of Stalin simply isn't The Life of Brian.
Victor Fraga, Dirty Movies, 16th October 2017Armando Iannucci and the Soviet Union's omnishambles
The Death of Stalin is an irresistible romp, skilfully walking the tightrope between horror and horrified laughter, and never less than thoroughly entertaining. Only at the very end of the film does the tone switch.
i Newspaper, 15th October 2017Armando Iannucci interview
'I was saved from being a reject by comedy'
Tim Lewis, The Observer, 15th October 2017