The Lives of Others

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The Lives of Others (film)
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Produced by Max Wiedemann
Quirin Berg
Dirk Hamm
Written by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring Ulrich Mühe
Martina Gedeck
Sebastian Koch
Ulrich Tukur
Cinematography Hagen Bogdanski
Editing by Patricia Rommel
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics (U.S.)
Buena Vista International (German-speaking areas)
Lions Gate Entertainment (UK)
Release date(s) Germany March 23, 2006
U.S. February 9, 2007
Australia March 29, 2007
UK April 11, 2007
Running time 137 min.
Country Germany
Language German

The Lives of Others (German: Das Leben der Anderen) is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police. It stars Ulrich Mühe as Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler, Ulrich Tukur as his chief Anton Grubitz, Sebastian Koch as the playwright Georg Dreyman, and Martina Gedeck as Dreyman's lover, a prominent actress named Christa-Maria Sieland.

The film was released in Germany on March 23, 2006. At the same time, the screenplay was published by Suhrkamp Verlag. Henckel von Donnersmarck and Ulrich Mühe were successfully sued for libel for an interview in which Mühe asserted that his former wife informed on him while they were East German citizens[1] through the six years of their marriage.[2] In the film's publicity material, Henckel von Donnersmarck says that Mühe's former wife denied the claims, although 254 pages' worth of government records detailed her activities.[3] The film succeeded in Germany despite a widespread contemporary reluctance in the country, particularly in its films,[1] to confront the totalitarian excesses of the East German state.[2]

With The Lives of Others, Henckel von Donnersmarck won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards – including best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor – after having set a new record with 11 nominations. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Golden Globe Awards. The Lives of Others cost US$2 million[1] and grossed more than $77 million worldwide as of November 2007.[4] Prior to his death, Sydney Pollack was said to be directing a possible Hollywood remake of the film.[5]

Contents

[edit] Plot

In the East Germany (GDR) of 1984, Stasi captain Wiesler is shown interrogating a prisoner suspected of helping an acquaintance defect to the West. The scene of the interrogation is intercut with Wiesler using the recording of the interrogation to instruct a class on methods of interrogation. He points out several ways the Stasi can tell a liar or an innocent person, such as their behaviour at being kept up late and answers to questions. Eventually the prisoner provides a name.

Wiesler's old classmate, now his superior, Lt. Colonel Grubitz, assigns him to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman, who is suspected of pro-Western sympathies. Stasi agents secretly enter Dreyman's flat, install small microphones and then monitor activity from the attic space above. When he realizes that a neighbor had observed them, Wiesler threatens to have her daughter's place at the university revoked if she exposes the microphones' presence.

Wiesler soon finds out that the real reason behind the surveillance is that a minister named Hempf desires Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland. Dreyman's arrest would rid Hempf of a rival. Wiesler, a true believer in the socialist regime, is disillusioned by a minister abusing his powers for personal interests.

Wiesler listens in on Dreyman and Christa-Maria's conversations.

Christa-Maria lives with Dreyman but secretly also sees Hempf, fearing the consequences of refusing such a powerful man. She also apparently relies on Hempf to get illegal prescription drugs. Due to Wiesler's secret intervention, Dreyman discovers the liaison and a week later confronts Christa-Maria, asking her not to see Hempf. Christa-Maria defends her behaviour, arguing that they are both in bed with the regime in order to be allowed to continue their artistic careers, and leaves. At a pub, Wiesler approaches her, pretending to be a fan, and insinuates that her talent is great enough that she doesn't have to give herself to Hempf. Christa-Maria leaves, seemingly to see the minister. Later, Wiesler learns from the surveillance report that Christa-Maria immediately returned to Dreyman.

Dreyman, though a faithful socialist, disapproves of the way dissidents are treated, and quietly stands up for those he thinks unfairly treated. One friend, Jerska, is a director who has been blacklisted. At Dreyman's birthday party, Jerska gives Dreyman a sheet of music to a piece titled "Sonata for a Good Man", and shortly afterwards commits suicide. This finally spurs Dreyman into speaking out against the regime. He arranges to anonymously publish an article on carefully concealed suicide rates in the GDR in the West German magazine Der Spiegel. Because all typewriters are registered, Dreyman uses a typewriter smuggled in from the west with a red ribbon to write the article, which he hides under the threshold between two rooms of his apartment. Before discussing sensitive issues in the flat, Dreyman and his friends try to test whether the flat is bugged by a feigned attempt at smuggling. However, out of compassion, Wiesler fails to pass on the information, making the conspirators think that the flat is not bugged.

Though Wiesler intended his inactivity to be a one-off move, his compassion for the couple grows and he continues to lie in his reports to protect Dreyman, and also reduces surveillance hours, so that he no longer has to share the work with an assistant. Wiesler is also upset when even a hired prostitute has no time for him as she merely moves on to her next "appointment". He starts to steal books off Dreyman's desk and reads them himself. Eventually, Dreyman and his friends finish the article and it is published, upsetting the East German government, which is unable to identify the typewriter used.

Meanwhile, the minister, angered by Christa-Maria's refusal, orders Grubitz to destroy her. Grubitz and his men catch her red-handed in the act of illegally purchasing prescription drugs. She is arrested and, under pressure, reveals Dreyman's authorship of the suicide article. The house is searched by security officials, but fail to find the typewriter, as Christa-Maria had concealed the hiding-place under the threshold. After this failure, Grubitz calls in Wiesler to interrogate Christa-Maria but warns him that a failure to produce results will cost them both.

Wiesler interrogates Christa-Maria (with Grubitz watching through a one-way mirror) with the same flawlessness that characterized him for years. She breaks down and tells him where the typewriter is hidden. During a second search, the secret hiding-place is opened, but is found empty. Wiesler, in his determination to protect the couple, had rushed to the flat in advance of the Stasi search team, removed the typewriter and hidden it in his car. During the search, Christa-Maria storms out of the flat in shame, runs into the street and is hit by a truck. Wiesler, who is waiting outside the building, is unable to help her and tries to tell her that he has removed the typewriter. Dreyman arrives at the scene and Christa-Maria dies in his arms.

After Christa-Maria's death, the surveillance is called off. Wiesler is demoted to Department M, to tediously steam-open letters all day with no chance for promotion until he retires. Four years and seven months later, Wiesler is in the middle of opening letters when a co-worker with a radio notifies him of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Upon hearing the news, Wiesler and his co-workers leave their workplace.

After German reunification, Dreyman learns from Hempf (who is now a successful businessman) that he was under intensive surveillance. Probing into his Stasi file, he finds out that, while agent "HGW XX/7" had heard Dreyman's activity against the regime, such as the publication of the suicide article, he had fabricated stories that had prevented Dreyman from being found out. At the final page, a smudge of red ink reveals the agent's contact with the hidden typewriter. Dreymann asks for the agent's identity. Dreyman succeeds in locating Wiesler, and he watches for a few minutes from a distance as Wiesler goes about his new job delivering advertising leaflets.

Two years later, Dreyman publishes a novel, The Sonata of Good Men. Wiesler sees the book advertised in a bookstore, and finds that it is dedicated "To HGW XX/7, with gratitude". He goes to buy the book and, when asked if he wants it gift wrapped, he responds: "No, it's for me."

[edit] Production

Henckel von Donnersmarck's parents were both from East Germany. He has said that, on visits there as a child before the Berlin Wall fell, he could sense the fear they had as subjects of the state.[6]

He said the idea for the movie came to him when he was trying to come up with a movie scenario for a film class. As he listened to a piece of music, he recalled Maxim Gorky's anecdote about Lenin listening to Beethoven's Appassionata.[1] Gorky wrote:

I know of nothing better than the Appassionata and could listen to it every day. What astonishing, superhuman music! It always makes me proud, perhaps naively so, to think that people can work such miracles!" Wrinkling up his eyes, Lenin smiled rather sadly, adding: "But I can't listen to music very often. It affects my nerves. I want to say sweet, silly things and pat the heads of people who, living in a filthy hell, can create such beauty. One can't pat anyone on the head nowadays, they might bite your hand off. They ought to be beaten on the head, beaten mercilessly, although ideally we are against doing any violence to people. Hm—– what a hellishly difficult job![7]

Henckel von Donnersmarck told a New York Times reporter: "I suddenly had this image in my mind of a person sitting in a depressing room with earphones on his head and listening in to what he supposes is the enemy of the state and the enemy of his ideas, and what he is really hearing is beautiful music that touches him. I sat down and in a couple of hours had written the treatment." The screenplay was written during an extended visit to his uncle's monastery, Heiligenkreuz Abbey[8].

Henckel von Donnersmarck had difficulty getting financing for the $2 million film. Podhoretz speculated that the reason was a reluctance on the part of the film industry to confront the horrors of Communism, although he says it is rich with dramatic possibilities. That may also explain why the organizers of the Berlin Film Festival refused to accept it as an official entry for 2006, the critic wrote.[7]

[edit] Critical reaction

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 93% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 145 reviews.[9] On Metacritic, another review aggregator, the film received an average score of 89 out of 100, based on 39 reviews.[10] Based on 34,830 votes, The Lives of Others earned 8.6 out of 10 stars on IMDb, as well as 52nd place in its list of the top 250 films. The film also earned 4.2 / 5 stars out of 347,080 ratings on Netflix.com.

In a review, American journalist John Podhoretz called the film "one of the greatest movies ever made, and certainly the best film of this decade."[11] William F. Buckley Jr., wrote in his syndicated column that, after the film was over, "I turned to my companion and said, 'I think that this is the best movie I ever saw."[12]

A review in Daily Variety by Derek Elley noted the "slightly stylized look" of the movie created by "playing up grays and dour greens, even when using actual locations like the Stasi's onetime HQ in Normannenstrasse."[13]

Time magazine's Richard Corliss named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #2. Corliss praised the film as a "poignant, unsettling thriller."[14][15]

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film his highest rating of four stars.[16]

[edit] Subtle treatment

Several critics pointed to the film's subtle building up of details as one of its prime strengths.

The film is built "on layers of emotional texture", wrote Stephanie Zacharek in Salon online magazine. "von Donnersmarck seizes upon telling details: In one sequence, as Minister Hempf paws at a female conquest, we get a flash of his giant white underpants, a touch that would be funny if it weren't so subliminally horrific."[3]

At another point in the movie, the main character, Wiesler, becomes enchanted by and sympathetic to the couple he is listening in on. "Wiesler's response to those feelings [...] move in on him imperceptibly, with very little telegraphing, making them that much more convincing," Zacharek writes.[3] Podhoretz, reviewing the movie in The Weekly Standard, ascribes the subtleness of Wiesler's response to Mühe, the actor playing him: "That scene [...] is limned with extraordinary stillness and compressed emotion by Ulrich Mühe, an actor heretofore unknown outside Germany who gives a performance so perfect in this, and every other moment in the film, that it's almost beyond words."[7] Josh Rosenblatt, writing in the Austin Chronicle made the same point: "Like all great screen performances, Mühe's magic comes out most in its tiniest moments: a raised eyebrow here, a slight upturn of the lips there. It's a triumph of muted grandeur [...]"[17]

Lisa Schwarzbaum, writing in Entertainment Weekly pointed out that some of the subtlety in the movie comes from the audience watching as characters are shown not taking action so much as being confronted by the action around them: "Some of the movie's tensest moments take place with the most minimal of action — Wiesler simply listening through headphones, Dreyman simply lying on his bed, a neighbor simply looking through a door peephole, her whole life contingent on what she does about what she sees. In those nerve-racking pauses (handled by a strong, understated cast), Henckel von Donnersmarck conveys everything he wants us to know about choice, fear, doubt, cowardice, and heroism."[18]

An article in First Things makes a philosophical argument in defense of Wiesler's transformation.[19]

[edit] Characterization

A.O. Scott, reviewing the film in The New York Times, wrote that Lives is well-plotted, and added, "The suspense comes not only from the structure and pacing of the scenes, but also, more deeply, from the sense that even in an oppressive society, individuals are burdened with free will. You never know, from one moment to the next, what course any of the characters will choose."[20]

Los Angeles Times movie critic Kenneth Turan agreed that the dramatic tension of the film comes from being "meticulously plotted", and that "it places its key characters in high-stakes predicaments where what they are forced to wager is their talent, their very lives, even their souls." The movie "convincingly demonstrates that when done right, moral and political quandaries can be the most intensely dramatic dilemmas of all."[21]

Zacharek, Scott, Podhoretz and Turan all make the point that although the film gives a powerful, subtle depiction of the corruption at the core of the East German state, it is focused on how people can rise above the moral corruption in which they're sometimes placed. As Podhoretz puts it, the movie is "a character study in the guise of a stunning suspense thriller."[7]

[edit] Criticism

Slavoj Zizek, reviewing the film for In These Times, wrote that it softpedals the oppressiveness of the German Democratic Republic, as when a dissident confronts the minister of culture and doesn't seem to face any consequences for it. Zizek also says the character of the playwright is simply too naive to be believable: "One cannot but recall here a witty formula of life under a hard Communist regime: Of the three features — personal honesty, sincere support of the regime and intelligence — it was possible to combine only two, never all three. [...] The problem with Dreyman is that he does combine all three features."[22]

Although the opening scene of the film is set in Hohenschönhausen prison, the movie could not be filmed there because Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial, refused to give Henckel von Donnersmarck permission. Knabe objected to "making the Stasi man into a hero" and tried to persuade Henckel von Donnersmarck to change the movie. Henckel von Donnersmarck cited Schindler's List as an example of such a plot development being possible. Knabe's answer: "But that is exactly the difference. There was a Schindler. There was no Wiesler."[23] The East German dissident songwriter Wolf Biermann was guardedly enthusiastic about the film, writing in a March 2006 article in Die Welt: "The political tone is authentic, I was moved by the plot. But why? Perhaps I was just won over sentimentally, because of the seductive mass of details which look like they were lifted from my own past between the total ban of my work in 1965 and denaturalisation in 1976."[24]

Anna Funder, the author of a book about the Stasi (Stasiland), wrote in a review of the movie for The Guardian that it was not possible for a Stasi operative to have hidden much information from superiors because Stasi employees themselves were watched and operated in teams, seldom if ever working alone. She noted that in his "Director's statement", Henckel von Donnersmarck wrote, "More than anything else, The Lives of Others is a human drama about the ability of human beings to do the right thing, no matter how far they have gone down the wrong path." Funder replied: "This is an uplifting thought. But what is more likely to save us from going down the wrong path again is recognising how human beings can be trained and forced into faceless systems of oppression, in which conscience is extinguished." Nevertheless, Funder said, the movie is a "superb film" despite not being true to reality.[23]

Clive Davis, writing in his blog at The Spectator's website, said the film did not convincingly show how Wiesler would have decided to change his ways: "What we saw was a promising idea sabotaged by a muddled and undernourished script."[25] "There was simply no serious motivation provided for this transformation. It was almost as if the writer figured he didn't really need to bother."[26]

[edit] Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[27]

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Literature and music

  • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: Das Leben der anderen. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-45786-1
  • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: Das Leben der anderen. Geschwärzte Ausgabe. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 3-518-45908-2
  • A piano sonata ("Sonata for a Good Man") is used as the main transformation point of the Stasi Agent Gerd Wiesler. In the film, the score doesn't carry the name of the composer, as it is original music written for the film by Gabriel Yared.
  • A text by Brecht, "Memory of Marie A", is quoted in the film in a scene in which Wiesler reads it on his couch, having stolen it from Dreyman's desk.
  • The poem "Versuch es" by Wolfgang Borchert, is set to music in the film and played as Dreyman writes the article about suicide. Borchert was a playwright whose life was destroyed by his experience being drafted into the Wehrmacht in World War II and fighting on the Eastern Front

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d "Behind the Berlin Wall, Listening to Life". New York Times. January 7, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/movies/awardsseason/07ridi.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-27. 
  2. ^ a b Nickerson, Colin (May 29, 2006). "German film prompts open debate on Stasi: A forbidden topic captivates nation". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/05/29/german_film_prompts_open_debate_on_stasi/. 
  3. ^ a b c Zacharek, Stephanie (February 9, 2007). "The Lives of Others". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2007/02/09/lives_of_others/. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  4. ^ "The Lives of Others (2007)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=livesofothers.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  5. ^ "Lives of Others set for Hollywood remake". The Guardian. March 1, 2007. http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2024093,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  6. ^ "Director's Statement". Sony. http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/swf/index.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  7. ^ a b c d Podhoretz, John (March 12, 2007). "Nightmare Come True". The Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/360jfrwt.asp. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  8. ^ Heiligenkreuz webpage, accessed 26 March 2009
  9. ^ "The Lives of Others - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lives_of_others/. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  10. ^ "Lives of Others, The (2006): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/livesofothers. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  11. ^ Podhoretz, John (July 25, 2007). "Ulrich Muhe RIP". National Review Online. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTUxZDJkMTg2MTY3OGU1ODg3ZTRiMmIzMWQyNmRhOWQ=. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  12. ^ Buckley, Jr., William F. (May 23, 2007). "Great Lives". National Review Online. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGUwMTZkMjY3Y2U1Zjc5MWM3NWEzOWY2OWU5NmIzYTU=. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  13. ^ Elley, Derek (June 11, 2006). "The Lives of Others". Daily Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930778.html?categoryID=31&cs=1. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  14. ^ Corliss, Richard; "The 10 Best Movies"; Time magazine; December 24, 2007; Page 40.
  15. ^ Corliss, Richard; "The 10 Best Movies"; time.com
  16. ^ The Lives of Others :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
  17. ^ Rosenblatt, Josh (March 2, 2007). "The Lives of Others". Austin Chronicle. http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3a451145. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  18. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (February 2, 2007). "Movie Review: The Lives of Others (2007)". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20010660,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  19. ^ ""Why Dictators Fear Artists"(2007)". First Things. July 23, 2007. http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=801. Retrieved on 2007-08-24. 
  20. ^ Scott, A.O. (February 9, 2007). "A Fugue for Good German Men". The New York Times. http://movies2.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/movies/09live.html?pagewanted=print. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  21. ^ Turan, Kenneth (December 1, 2006). "The Lives of Others". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-lives1dec01,0,438344,print.story. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  22. ^ Zizek, Slavoj (May 18, 2007). "The Dreams of Others". In These Times. http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3183/the_dreams_of_others/. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  23. ^ a b Fundler, Anna (May 5, 2007). "Tyranny of Terror". The Guardian. http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2072454,00.html. 
  24. ^ Wolf Biermann: The ghosts are leaving the shadows - signandsight
  25. ^ Davis, Clive (May 13, 2007). "Very Still Lives". The Spectator Blog at The Spectator Magazine. http://www.spectator.co.uk/clivedavis/30149/very-still-lives.thtml. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 
  26. ^ Drum, Kevin (May 14, 2007). "Political Animal". The Washington Monthly. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_05/011302.php. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 
  27. ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2007/toptens.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-01-05. 
  28. ^ David Germain; Christy Lemire (2007-12-27). "'No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics". Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Dec/20071227Go!013.asp. Retrieved on 2007-12-31. 
  29. ^ "KPN Audience Award". filmfestivalrotterdam.com. http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/default.aspx?liso=en-US. Retrieved on 4 Feb 2007. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

Awards
Preceded by
Tsotsi
 South Africa
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
2007
Succeeded by
The Counterfeiters
(Die Fälscher)

 Austria
Preceded by
Hidden (Caché)
European Film Award for Best European Film
2006
Succeeded by
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Preceded by
Pan's Labyrinth
(El laberinto del fauno)

 Mexico
BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language
2008
Succeeded by
I've Loved You So Long
(Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)

 France
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