The Inner Circle (1991 film)
| The Inner Circle | |
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| Directed by | Andrei Konchalovsky |
| Written by | Anatoli Usov |
| Starring |
Tom Hulce Lolita Davidovich Bob Hoskins Aleksandr Zbruyev Feodor Chaliapin Jr. Bess Meyer |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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137 minutes |
| Country | United States Italy Russia |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $93,292 |
The Inner Circle is a 1991 drama film by Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, telling the story of Joseph Stalin's private projectionist and KGB officer Ivan Sanchin between 1939 and 1953, Stalin's year of death. Sanchin is played by Tom Hulce, and the film co-stars Lolita Davidovitch and Bob Hoskins. The film is based on a true story and is an American, Italian and Russian production. It is in English and has a running time of 137 minutes.
The Inner Circle was nominated for awards at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival and the 1993 Nika Awards.
Shortly after his marriage to Anastasia, Ivan Sanchin, who works as a projectionist at the headquarters of the state security service (called KGB in the film), is summoned urgently to the Kremlin. Having proved his skill, he is appointed private projectionist to Stalin and his inner circle, including the head of state security Beria. This makes him proud and happy, for he venerates the dictator as if he were a god.
When a Jewish couple in his cramped apartment house are arrested, their little daughter Katya is left behind. Though Anastasia wants to adopt the child, Ivan forbids it because her parents are "enemies of the people”. However she secretly visits Katya at a state orphanage.
As German troops approach Moscow in 1941, Ivan and Anastasia are put on a train to a safe town. Also on the train is Beria, who gets Anastasia drunk and seduces her, sending Ivan back to Moscow. For a long time he hears nothing of her until she turns up one day, pregnant and abandoned. Her experiences have unhinged her and she commits suicide.
In 1953 the lonely Ivan is visited by Katya, now an attractive teenager, who treasures the memory of Anastasia's affection. Ivan offers help, but she says she wants to go her own way. Then Stalin dies and Ivan, on duty to control the crowds waiting to view the corpse, sees Katya being jostled in the crush. He rushes in to rescue her and, this time, she is ready to accept his protection.
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