Leben der Anderen, Das (2006)

Director:

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Guionista:

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (writer)

Release Date:

23 marzo 2006 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Frase comercial:

Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets

Plot:

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

Plot Keywords:

Power Abuse | East German Culture | Wiretapping | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship | Female Frontal Nudity

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 55 wins & 22 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Intelligent and moving dealing with GDR history

Cast

Martina Gedeck	...	Christa-Maria Sieland
Ulrich Mühe	...	Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler
Sebastian Koch	...	Georg Dreyman
Ulrich Tukur	...	Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz
Thomas Thieme	...	Minister Bruno Hempf
Hans-Uwe Bauer	...	Paul Hauser
Volkmar Kleinert	...	Albert Jerska
Matthias Brenner	...	Karl Wallner
Charly Hübner	...	Udo
Herbert Knaup	...	Gregor Hessenstein
Bastian Trost	...	Häftling 227
Marie Gruber	...	Frau Meineke
Volker Michalowski	...	Schriftexperte (as Zack Volker Michalowski)
Werner Daehn	...	Einsatzleiter in Uniform
Martin Brambach	...	Einsatzleiter Meyer

También conocida como:

Leben der Anderen - Die Sonate vom guten Menschen, Das (Germany) (working title)
The Lives of Others (USA)
Vida de los otros, La (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity.

Duración:

137 min

País:

Germany

Idioma:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Czech Republic:12 | South Korea:15 | Spain:7 | Netherlands:12 | UK:15 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Hong Kong:IIB | France:Unrated | Argentina:13 | Germany:12 | Australia:MA | Portugal:M/16 | Ireland:15A | Sweden:7 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Italy:T | Singapore:M18 | Malaysia:U | USA:R | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

Altes Stadthaus, Klosterstraße, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Trivialidades:

The cover of the prop Der Spiegel magazine featuring the Dreyman article was designed by the publication specifically for the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Wiesler and Grubitz are having lunch with some Stasi-members, there isn't anything on their plates.

Quotes:

Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler: An innocent prisoner will become more angry by the hour due to the injustice suffered. He will shout and rage. A guilty prisoner becomes more calm and quiet. Or he cries. He knows he's there for a reason. The best way to establish guilt or innocence is non-stop interrogation.

Movie Connections:

References Salesman (1968)

Intelligent and moving dealing with GDR history

East Berlin, November 1984. Five years before its downfall the GDR seeks to maintain its power with the help of a merciless system of control and observation. When Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz puts loyal Stasi-Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler on to the famous writer Georg Dreymann and his girlfriend Christa Maria Sieland who is a famous actress herself, he expects career advancement for himself. For most important politicians are responsible for this "operative act".

What Wiesler did not expect: the intimate view on the world of the ones he's observing changes the snitch as well. Looking at "the life of the others" makes him aware of the beggarliness in his own life and enables access to a so far unknown world of love, free thinking and speaking he is hardly able to elude. But the system can't be stopped anymore and a dangerous game, which destroys the love of Christa Maria Sieland and Georg Dreymann and Wieslers present existence begins.

Until the fall of the wall each of them has paid a big price. After that a whole new world begins.

My personal opinion - though it doesn't count that much - is that this one a an absolute Must See. I can hardly remember such an intelligent and moving German movie especially not including the whole topic of GDR history and the dealing with it. I think this is the first German movie which shows this system as it used to be (which has been confirmed by several contemporary witnesses) and not turns it and its people into comedy though there have been several good ones, of course.