Rotten
Stephen Daldry's film is sensitively realized and dramatically absorbing, but comes across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
The Reader
Behind the mystery lies a truth that will make you question everything you know.
2008 · 2h 4m · R
Drama, Romance
Directed by
Stephen Daldry
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The Reader
Overview
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.
Director and cast
- Stephen Daldry Director
- Ralph Fiennes as Michael Berg
- Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz
- David Kross as Young Michael Berg
- Lena Olin as Rose Mather
- Bruno Ganz as Professor Rohl
- Jeanette Hain as Brigitte
- Hannah Herzsprung as Julia
- Karoline Herfurth as Marthe
- Volker Bruch as Dieter Spenz
- Alexandra Maria Lara as Young Ilana Mather
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
63%
Tomatometer
Fresh
If Winslet carries the complex psychological intrigue of the film on her shoulders, David Kross carries the heart of it on his.
Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Fresh
Its issues are infinite and moveable. It's a bold and challenging work.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Fresh
The trial's outcome leads us into a third act that continues to give renewed, rending meaning to the movie's title.
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Fresh
The Reader is a bold and provocative film and one of the most exquisite of 2008.
Michael Granberry, Dallas Morning News
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