X
- 2008
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 2 h 4 m
- 2008
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 2 h 4 m
Summary The Reader opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. (The Weinstein Company)
Directed By: Stephen Daldry
Written By: David Hare, Bernhard Schlink
- 2008
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 2 h 4 m
- 2008
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 2 h 4 m
The Reader
58
7.4
Where to Watch
Summary The Reader opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. (The Weinstein Company)
Directed By: Stephen Daldry
Written By: David Hare, Bernhard Schlink
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
58
50% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
45% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
5% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
58
50% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
45% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
5% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
An immaculately crafted, splendidly acted drama with a message at its core of forgiveness and humanity. It's also blatantly manipulative, and, upon reflection, rather banal. In other words, it's the epitome of Oscar bait and almost serves as a step-by-step guide to creating such a beast.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 131 User Ratings
7.4
69% Positive
91 Ratings
91 Ratings
27% Mixed
35 Ratings
35 Ratings
4% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 131 User Ratings
7.4
69% Positive
91 Ratings
91 Ratings
27% Mixed
35 Ratings
35 Ratings
4% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
Like the cinematic equivalent of a Henry James novel: difficult but worth the effort. Kate Winslett turns in as subtle & convincing a performance as any I've seen: tender, harsh, sexy, angry, confused, and, finally, **** by remorse. Ralph Fiennes may finally have wiped out my memory of his horrendous turn in "Ivanov" a few years back. Russian melancholy is too florid for him, but buttoned-up German melancholy is a great fit. What I like best about the film, though, is that it's ethically all shades of grey--NOT **** but posing questions such as how ordinary people come to commit atrocities, which strikes me as a much more important question than Hollywood's favorite, "How much do we hate ****?" Not a film to be watched for diversion but for discussion and reflection. Wish there were more such.
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I was impressed with this film. It is truly memorable. The story begins with young Michael, a German boy in his teens. He meets Hannah, a tram ticket collector somewhat older than himself, and is attracted to her. Later, they both start a very intense love affair, which marks the discovery of sexuality for Michael. The case lasted only one summer, but it impressively marked him: years later, already as a law student, he will find Hannah in a difficult situation, when she is accused of several heinous crimes related to ****.
This film has an excellent script. The story of love and physical desire between the main characters may shock some people by their age difference, but I confess that I didn't feel uncomfortable with that. Hannah's permanently grumpy and rude attitude bothered me a lot more. The way in which the film approaches various situations that are morally debatable in a neutral way does not seem negative to me, it ends up allowing each viewer to think for himself about it. I also think that the psychology of Hannah has not been fully explored. There is so much about her that the film does not reveal, so much that we wanted to know... I feel that this is intentional, due to the way it involves the character in a tasty and charming mystery. Another thing that caught my attention was the nudity. The sex scenes are sometimes quite visual, although always short... it was not something that shocked me or that I really considered a problem, but some parents should consider it before leaving teenagers to see this movie.
In addition to an attractive script, the film features good actors. Kate Winslet is the big star of the film and, really, is in excellent shape and gives us a superb interpretation. She deserved, in fact, the Oscar for Best Actress that she won with this work. The very young David Kross showed that it is a promise of European cinema with an intense performance of a shy, withdrawn and sometimes naive young man, and Ralph Fiennes did not disappoint us in the mature version of this character, offering us with an elegant and restrained work. The cast also has a good work by Bruno Ganz.
Technically, it is a discreet film that does not bring anything new, despite doing what has to be done with professionalism. Cinematography is the standard, but it makes good use of the filming locations, also knowing how to play with shadows: in fact it is a cloudy film, and the Sun, like joy, rarely appears (as in the bicycle trip that the two central characters, at the height of their happiness, do it together). The sets are good and the costumes and props were chosen in order to recreate, with caution, the periods that the film is going through (from the 50s to the 90s). The soundtrack is good, but I confess that I didn't find it memorable.
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Bernhard Schlink's highly regarded novel "The Reader" receives a graceful, absorbing screen adaptation by director Stephen Daldry.
The epitome of middle-brow 'quality' drama -- admirable within its limitations, but Bernard Schlink's Oprah Winfrey Book Club-approved book wasn't exactly literature, as this isn't exactly cinema.
The Reader is ponderously self-important and smugly Socratic, brimming with unfinished sentences and pregnant pauses; if a single character would only say what he thinks, the movie would be over in 30 minutes
The Reader feels weighty, all right; but it's an unsatisfying kind of weight, and Fiennes' presence, as the grown-up Michael, doesn't help much.
The shallowest "serious" film to be reeling this year.
Kate Winslet's portrayal of Hanna in The Reader is her finest performance to date. It's rare that one actress has her two greatest roles in a single year. Oh, and the film with break every inch of your heart--it may appear tender at times, but this film is an emotional punch.
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you don't have the power to upset me..
The Reader
The innocence and the selfless act behind it is the key and the makers were aware of it and narrows it down to it and brings out the best from the book gaining passion, attention and love from the viewers. Stephen Daldry despite of possessing such a beautiful script fails to project it on screen convincingly which makes the audience switch seats on picking a side, for the writing and adaptation is equally powerful on the other side. As these features require, the performance is not compromised on any level by Kate Winslet; she is brilliant, and also Ralph Fiennes from the supporting cast. The Reader has a powerful yet beautiful concept as we all are aware, but also the adaptation and the editing which provides enough space and range to the characters and the actors to flaunt themselves but what's indigestible is the execution and it doesn't pay well in the end.
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**** war crime drama. Young German lad has affair with illiterate Kate Winslet, and later discovers she was a guard in a concentration camp. Ralph Fiennes plays him later still. An interesting look at the interaction of relationships and response to the holocaust.
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Stephen Daldry's take on Bernhard Schlink's controversial novel is as cold a Holocaust movie as I've ever seen. The pseudo-intellectual mumbo-jumbo the film exudes, cleverly disguises its hollow and empty premise. It embraces irrelevance and glosses over relevance. Had it not been for standout performances from Winslet, Fiennes and Kross, there would've been absolutely no reason to praise the movie. The Reader doesn't just fail as a character study but it also fails in being a meaningful film.
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Production Company
The Weinstein Company,
Mirage Enterprises,
Studio Babelsberg,
Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA),
Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF),
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM),
Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen
Release Date Dec 10, 2008
Duration 2 h 4 m
Rating R
Tagline How far would you go to protect a secret?
Website
http://dervorleser-film.de/
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Alliance of Women Film Journalists
• 2 Wins & 7 Nominations
