Sanchin is played by Tom Hulce, and the film co-stars Lolita Davidovitch and Bob Hoskins.

Shortly after his marriage to Anastasia, Ivan Sanchin, who works as a projectionist at the headquarters of the state security service (called, anachronistically, 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.

Following Stalin's death, Ivan, while on crowd control duty to masses waiting to view the corpse, sees Katya being jostled in the crush.

Based on 8 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, The Inner Circle has an overall approval rating from critics of 50%, with an average score of 5.40/10.