I saw an intriguing thriller, The Lives of Others, over the Easter break. The film takes place in 1980s East Germany, a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. At this time, the Stasi, or secret police, made it their business to monitor the behaviour of citizens of interest (apparently a high proportion of the East German population).
The film centres on Gerd Wiesler, the Stasi captain who is assigned to bug and monitor the apartment of Georg Dreyman, a celebrated playwright, and his girlfriend, stage actress Christa-Maria Sieland.
Listening in on intimate moments and making careful notes, Wiesler slowly becomes entranced by the lives of his suspects. A clever contrast is set up between Dreyman’s warm-toned, art- and book-filled apartment and the bland and austere spaces inhabited by Wiesler. As Wiesler becomes increasingly seduced by the story, he begins to takes dangerous steps to protect Dreyman and Sieland from the intrusion on their lives.
I was particularly impressed by the performance of Ulrich Muhe as Wiesler. With little dialogue to work with, Muhe makes Wiesler’s transformation from dispassionate observer to emotional participant credible and moving.
I found it to be an intelligent yet tragic film that sheds some light on a dark period of recent history (it’s inspired me to put Stasiland by Anna Funder on my to-read list). I would recommend watching it before they do the Hollywood re-make which is apparently now on the cards!
Image credit: Hopscotch
10 Comments
April 10, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Oh no! They can’t do a Hollywood remake! I saw this film on the weekend too and thought it was wonderful. I thought the actors playing Georg and Christa-Maria were also excellent- just the right amount of charisma to make the story believable.
‘Stasiland’ is an interesting read, although I thought it was a little bit too much about Funder herself. The stories are so interesting that I thought the personal stuff detracted from the book as a whole. Worth reading though.
April 11, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Hi Jess! Glad to hear that you also enjoyed the film. I agree, the performances of the actors playing the couple were excellent.
Yes, I’ve heard similiar criticism about Stasiland. I think it can be difficult to get the balance right if you cross over into personal memoir territory.
April 12, 2007 at 2:34 am
Both you and Emily make me want to see this movie. I think it’s on the short list. And to think I wasted my time on Premonition this weekend. Ah well, I like supporting Sandra Bullock, as cheesy as that is!
April 12, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I, too, would recommend watching it before it gets translated by Hollywood. The movie still haunts me. And you’re so right about how impressive Wiesler is. And the actor who plays George Dreyman is easy on the eyes, isn’t he?
April 12, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Courtney, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of cheese, if I saw ’serious’ films all the time I’d get depressed!
Emily, oh I agree, literary eye candy.
April 18, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Here’s an interesting article analogizing the situation on the movie to whistleblowers under Australian law.
April 19, 2007 at 12:23 am
Thanks LE, that was really interesting and a scary prospect!
April 25, 2007 at 10:17 pm
[...] The Lives of Others, which I have posted on previously, was really impressive and quite topical in the current political climate. Little Miss Sunshine, Lost in Translation, and the Russian movie The Return also come to mind. [...]
June 16, 2007 at 12:00 pm
This was the best film i had seen in ages. Actually really want to go and see it again!
June 16, 2007 at 12:01 pm
They should definitely NOT do a Hollywood remake. That would most certainly ruin it.
Please Hollywood, leave it out for once!