Fresh
The Lives of Others is a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The Lives of Others
Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets.
2006 · 2h 17m · R
Drama, Thriller
Directed by
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Overview
In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.
Director and cast
- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Director
- Martina Gedeck as Christa-Maria Sieland
- Ulrich Mühe as Gerd Wiesler
- Sebastian Koch as Georg Dreyman
- Ulrich Tukur as Anton Grubitz
- Thomas Thieme as Bruno Hempf
- Hans-Uwe Bauer as Paul Hauser
- Volkmar Kleinert as Albert Jerska
- Matthias Brenner as Karl Wallner
- Charly Hübner as Udo
- Herbert Knaup as Gregor Hessenstein
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
92%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film is a melodrama in a minor key, quietly affecting, quietly chilling, quietly quiet. It captures the drab architecture of totalitarianism, the soul-dead buildings of a soul-dead state.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Fresh
Its suspense builds on the fragile and nuanced business of emotional rebirth.
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
Fresh
A political thriller that's consistently as inventive as it is creepy.
Tom Long, Detroit News
Fresh
Few would deny that The Lives of Others is true to its self, and in its depiction of human nature -- and human spirit.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
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