| | | "Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets."
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), English, French, Spanish, Subtitled
This critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) is the erotic, emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls "a nail-biter of a thriller!" Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman, were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg's stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer's apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives - as well as his - in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is "the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head."
"...[a] supremely intelligent, unfailingly honest movie." A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"A thoroughly compelling political thriller, at once intellectually challenging and profoundly emotional." Claudia Puig, USA Today
"...an intricate, ambiguous and deeply satisfying movie, a tautly plotted tale of state surveillance and personal betrayal..." Dana Stevens, Slate
"...a genuinely thrilling tale, leavened with sly humor, that works ingenious variations on the theme of cat and mouse..." Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"A tense and tightly plotted fictional thriller..." Ken Fox, TV Guide
Editor's Note
In East Berlin in 1984, the secret police, known as the Stasi, are gaining more and more control, spying on German citizens, and recruiting thousands of them to spy on each other. Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) has been ordered to find something on playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), so he sets up a surveillance room and listens closely as Dreyman, his actress girlfriend, Christa-Marie Sieland (Martina Gedeck), and various suspected radical friends gather in their apartment. But when Wiesler discovers that culture minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) cast suspicion on Dreyman only so he can have his way with Sieland, the master interrogator and torture teacher starts taking a long look at just what it all is about. THE LIVES OF OTHERS, cowritten and directed by first-timer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is a tense, compelling thriller about a critical time in German history. Mühe is mesmerizing as the complicated Wiesler, a loyal soldier until he learns too much. The wildly talented Koch is outstanding as Dreyman, a man with a lot to say but desperate to avoid the same fate as his mentor, theater director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert). Inspired by actual events and real characters, THE LIVES OF OTHERS was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007. Interestingly, during and after the filming of the movie, several of the actors (including Mühe) found out that they or their families had been victims of the Stasi--and in one case, the father of an actor (Charly Hubner) was revealed to have been a member of the Stasi himself.
| Features | Audio: German Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Deleted Scenes With Optional Audio Commentary | | Featurette: The Making Of The Lives Of Others | | Interactive Menus | | Interview With Director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 7/28/2009 |
| Running Time: 138 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 17085 | | UPC: 00043396170858 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: German | | Available Audio Tracks: German | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (2007) | | | Golden Globe, The Lives of Others, Best Foreign Language Film | |
Winner (2007) | | | Independent Spirit, The Lives of Others, Best Foreign Film | | | Oscar, The Lives of Others, Best Foreign Language Film of the Year |
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| | Professional Reviews | Box Office
"[A] fascinating look at the political and psychological underpinnings of communist control in former East Germany....Muhe is remarkably subtle..." 11/01/2006 p.108Premiere
"A remarkably engrossing thriller concerning the very intimate surveillance that was the bread and butter of the East German secret police in the bad old days of the Cold War." 12/01/2006 p.44 Film Comment
"[N]ever less than intelligent....The proposition that THE LIVES OF OTHERS puts forth, aside from its obvious call to examine the East German era, is both rehabilitative and romantic..." 01/01/2007 p.71-72 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Von Donnersmarck has crafted the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head." 02/08/2007 p.78 New York Times
"[A] suspenseful, ethically exacting drama, beautifully realized by the writer and director Florian Henckle von Donnersmarck..." 02/09/2007 p.E1 Entertainment Weekly
"[U]tterly riveting....The filmmaker's control of story and pacing is so wily, his script so literate, that to reveal much more would interfere with the thrill of the tentacled plot's twists." 02/16/2007 p.58 Movieline's Hollywood Life
"THE LIVES OF OTHERS is a moral drama and also an offbeat love story, one that acquires depth from its superb performances." 01/01/2007 p.98 Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "An outstanding psychological and political thriller....THE LIVES OF OTHERS examines the chilling realities of existence under a totalitarian system." 05/01/2007 p.34 Sight and Sound
"[The film] has a majestic quality. Gabriel Yared's music, Hagen Bodanski's sombre cinematography and, above all, the performances add dignity and pathos." 05/01/2007 p.68 USA Today
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The film] is creepiest when you stop to think that its story isn't ancient history..." 08/24/2007 p.8E Empire
5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is a truthful story...with profound things to say about who and what we really are, and who and what we can choose to be." 10/01/2007 p.137 Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] sharply intelligent and impressively sombre suspense drama..." 11/01/2007 p.151 ReelViews 9 of 10
It's no secret that some of the most powerful dramas are those that depict character transformations. Such is the case with The Lives of Others, the stirring and affecting feature debut of German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. With a deft hand, von Donnersmarck engages us in the life of a cold, dispassionate character then takes us on a journey that transforms him from detached observer to involved partisan...Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the movie is the complexity and intelligence evident in the screenplay, which offers multiple valid interpretations for certain actions but never insults the audience by insisting upon one...The strength of The Lives of Others is that it works on numerous levels - especially in the way it approaches Wiesler's complexity as an individual - and that none of the characters are one-dimensional or facile. With solid performances and a terrific screenplay, this movie offers solid, no-frills drama that feels organic and believable, not contrived. - James Berardinelli
Reel.com 9 of 10
A 2006 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmark's The Lives of Others captures the pervasive, soul-crushing anxiety of life in pre-glasnost East Berlin with chilling authenticity. In his remarkably accomplished filmmaking debut, von Donnersmark explores the profound impact of East Germany's totalitarian regime on a handful of characters in a narrative that succeeds as both a gripping political thriller and an acutely observed character study. Bleak yet never completely despairing, this superbly acted and richly atmospheric film has a gravitas and thematic complexity that's sadly absent from most contemporary American films...Although The Lives of Others could benefit from some judicious trimming--von Donnersmark loses his otherwise firm grip on the narrative in its final scenes--this compelling and nuanced film is nevertheless a must-see. - Tim Knight
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