In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.
The Lives of Others is a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
21 Sep 2007
fresh:
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film is a melodrama in a minor key, quietly affecting, quietly chilling, quietly quiet. It captures the drab architecture of totalitarianism, the soul-dead buildings of a soul-dead state.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
16 Mar 2007
fresh:
Its suspense builds on the fragile and nuanced business of emotional rebirth.
– Amy Biancolli,
Houston Chronicle,
2 Mar 2007
fresh:
A political thriller that's consistently as inventive as it is creepy.
– Tom Long,
Detroit News,
2 Mar 2007
fresh:
Few would deny that The Lives of Others is true to its self, and in its depiction of human nature -- and human spirit.