Susan Granger’s review of “The Lives of Others” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Deservedly, this is Oscar’s Best Foreign Film. Set in the mid-1980s in the German Democratic Republic before the fall of the Berlin Wall, it’s writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s haunting tale of obsessive voyeurism.
Gerd Weisler (Ulriche Muhe) is a captain in the Stasi, the Communitists’ secret police. He’s told by his superior (Ulrich Tukur) to install surveillance on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a celebrated but controversial playwright who lives with charismatic actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). From his attic perch, Gerd becomes addicted to watching their lives unfold, his own ‘live’ soap opera. Gradually, Gerd’s drab, solitary existence is significantly changed by what he learns about love, relationships, corruption, power, deception and betrayal, and a metamorphosis takes place. Eventually, he hides incriminating evidence and falsifies official records.
What emerges is a Cold War political thriller, revolving around surveillance and the state’s control of people’s lives – that’s also an intensely human drama. The script is subtle, the cast superb. But it’s von Donnersmarck’s deft, atmospheric direction that creates the intense claustrophobia.
“Over the years, there were several things that led me to make this film,” he says. “As a young boy, I found it interesting and exciting to feel the fear of adults during our visits to East Berlin. My parents were afraid when they crossed the border.and our friends from East Germany were afraid when others saw that they were speaking with us. Then I had this image of a man sitting in a bleak room, wearing headphones and listening to beautiful music even though he didn’t want to hear it.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Lives of Others” is an unforgettable 10, the most electrifying German film in more than a decade.
