THE LIVES OF OTHERS swept the 2006 German Film Awards, winning seven prizes, including Best Feature Film, Best Direction, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. A Special Presentation at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival®, the feature debut from newcomer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is a beautifully written and exceptionally staged recreation of the nightmare years of the German Democratic Republic. A far cry from the wistful look back at the former East Germany that defined the popular GOOD BYE, LENIN!, Henckel von Donnersmarck determinedly focuses upon the venality of a regime that wrapped itself in the rhetoric of a worker’s paradise while building a living hell and waging a cold war on its citizens. It is 1984. Glasnost is a million miles away and a government minister with a wandering eye, used to exploiting his position to eliminate rivals in politics or love, takes a fancy to Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck, MOSTLY MARTHA), a beautiful, popular and very attractive actress. She is living with one of the country’s most popular – and loyal – playwrights, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), who has connections in the government and is feted as a cultural superstar. However, the couple’s apparently safe little world turns upside down when the grim and expressionless Stasi agent Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) – who believes no one is ever truly innocent of anything – is sent to spy on them. THE LIVES OF OTHERS presents a blistering indictment of the former East Germany’s Kafkaesque regime, while retaining a human portrait of its protagonists. Mühe is truly brilliant as Wiesler, the man with the headphones, a faithful cog in the machine who nonetheless proves to be more complex than we expect. Here, nothing is as simple as it seems. With a knowing nod to Coppola’s brilliant THE CONVERSATION, Henckel von Donnersmarck has made one of the most powerful films to emerge from Germany in a decade.
CRITICAL NOTES “… by challenging our need for good and bad stereotypes... [THE LIVES OF OTHERS] is ultimately captivating and, with the twists in the end, highly rewarding.” – Eric Hansen, The Hollywood Reporter “A remarkably confident debut from Germany’s Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, THE LIVES OF OTHERS is a deft, gripping Communist-era drama.” – Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Cast: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme Year: 2006 Runtime: 137 minutes Country: Germany Language: German with English subtitles SCREENING DATES AND TIMES Sunday, February 10, 2008 Circuit Centre: Sarnia Province: Ontario Circuit Group Name: cinéSarnia Venue: Sarnia Public Library