''The Lives of Others'' (german: link=no, Das Leben der Anderen, ) is a 2006

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

drama film written and directed by

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (; born 2 May 1973) is an Academy Award-winning German and Austrian film director. He is best known for writing and directing the 2006 dramatic thriller ''Das Leben der Anderen (The L ...

marking his feature film directorial debut. The plot is about the monitoring of

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

residents by agents of the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

's secret police. It stars

Ulrich Mühe Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe (; 20 June 1953 – 22 July 2007) was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann (Captain) Gerd Wiesler in the Oscar-winning film '' Das Leben der Anderen'' (''The Lives of Others'', 2 ...

as Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler,

Ulrich Tukur Ulrich Tukur (born Ulrich Gerhard Scheurlen; 29 July 1957) is a German actor and musician. Early life and education Tukur spent his youth near Hannover where he finished his final secondary school examinations in 1977. He also earned a high sch ...

as his superior Anton Grubitz,

Sebastian Koch Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ''The Lives of Others'', in Steven Spielberg's '' Bridge of Spies'', and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of ...

as the playwright Georg Dreyman, and

Martina Gedeck Martina Gedeck (; born 14 September 1961) is a German actress. She came to broader, international attention due to her roles in films such as '' Mostly Martha'' (2001), ''The Lives of Others'' (2006), and ''The Baader Meinhof Complex'' (2008). Sh ...

as Dreyman's lover, a prominent actress named Christa-Maria Sieland. The film was released in Germany on 23 March 2006. At the same time, the screenplay was published by Suhrkamp Verlag. ''The Lives of Others'' won the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. The film had earlier won seven

Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

awards—including those for best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor—after setting a new record with 11 nominations. It also won the

BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, rec ...

and

European Film Award for Best Film European Film Award for Best Film is one of the annual European Film Awards, presented by the European Film Academy to recognize the best in european filmmaking. It was first awarded in 1988 with Polish film ''A Short Film About Killing'', directe ...

, while was nominated for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

. ''The Lives of Others'' cost US$2 million and grossed more than US$77 million worldwide. Released 17 years after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, marking the end of the German Democratic Republic, it was the first notable drama film about the subject after a series of comedies such as ''

Good Bye, Lenin! ''Good Bye Lenin!'' is a 2003 German tragicomedy film, directed by Wolfgang Becker. The cast includes Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, and Maria Simon. The story follows a family in East Germany (GDR); the mother (Sass) is dedica ...

'' and ''

Sonnenallee ''Sonnenallee'' (''Sun Avenue'' or ''Sun Alley'') is a 1999 German comedy film about life in East Berlin in the late 1970s. The movie was directed by Leander Haußmann. The film was released shortly before the corresponding novel, ''Am kürzere ...

''. This approach was widely applauded in Germany even as some criticized the humanization of Wiesler's character. The film's authenticity was considered praiseworthy given that the director grew up outside of East Germany and was 16 when the Berlin Wall fell.

Plot

In 1984

Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literally ...

'' Gerd Wiesler, code name HGW XX/7, is ordered to spy on the playwright Georg Dreyman, who had so far escaped state scrutiny due to his Communist views and international recognition. Wiesler and his team bug Dreyman's apartment, set up surveillance equipment in an attic and begin reporting Dreyman's activities. Wiesler learns that Dreyman has been put under surveillance at the request of the Minister of Culture, Bruno Hempf, who covets Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland. After an intervention by Wiesler leads to Dreyman's discovering Sieland's relationship with Hempf, he implores her not to meet him again. Sieland flees to a nearby bar where Wiesler, posing as a fan, urges her to be true to herself. She returns home and reconciles with Dreyman. At Dreyman's birthday party, his friend Albert Jerska, a blacklisted theatrical director, gives him

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

for ''Sonate vom Guten Menschen'' (''Sonata for a Good Man''). Shortly afterwards, Jerska hangs himself. A grieving Dreyman decides to publish an anonymous article in ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', a prominent West German newsweekly. Dreyman's article accuses the state of concealing the country's elevated suicide rates. When Dreyman and his friends feign a defection attempt to determine whether or not his flat is bugged, a now-sympathetic Wiesler does not alert the border guards or his superior Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz and the conspirators believe they are safe. Since all East German

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

s are registered and identifiable, an editor of ''Der Spiegel'' smuggles Dreyman an ultra-flat typewriter with a red ribbon. Dreyman hides the typewriter under a floorboard of his apartment but is seen by Sieland. A few days later, Dreyman's article is published, angering the East German authorities. The Stasi obtain a copy, but are unable to link it to any registered typewriter. Livid at being rejected by Sieland, Hempf orders Grubitz to arrest her. She is blackmailed into revealing Dreyman's authorship of the article, although when the Stasi search his apartment, they do not find the typewriter. Grubitz, suspicious that Wiesler has mentioned nothing unusual in his daily reports of the monitoring, has him do the follow-up interrogation of Sieland. Wiesler makes Sieland reveal the typewriter's location. Grubitz and the Stasi return to Dreyman's apartment. Sieland realises that Dreyman will know she betrayed him and flees the apartment. When Grubitz removes the floorboard however, the typewriter is gone – Wiesler having removed it before the search team arrived. Unaware of this, Sieland runs to the street in despair and right into the path of a truck. A shocked Dreyman runs out after her and Sieland dies in his arms. Unable to prove his interference, Grubitz informs Wiesler that both the investigation and Wiesler's career are over; his remaining years with the Stasi will be in Department M, a dead-end assignment for disgraced agents. The same day,

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

is elected

leader of the Soviet Union During its 69-year history, the Soviet Union usually had a ''de facto'' leader who would not necessarily be head of state but would lead while holding an office such as premier or general secretary. Under the 1977 Constitution, the chairman of ...

, beginning the process that will lead to the collapse of the Soviet bloc. On 9 November 1989, Wiesler is steam-opening letters when a co-worker hears about the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

on the radio. Realising what this means, Wiesler silently gets up and leaves the office, inspiring his co-workers to do the same. Two years later, Hempf and Dreyman meet while attending a performance of Dreyman's play. Dreyman asks the former minister why he was never monitored. Hempf tells him that he had been under full surveillance in 1984: "We knew everything." Surprised, Dreyman searches his apartment, finds the now-abandoned listening devices and rips them off the walls. At the

Stasi Records Agency , commonly known as the ) , dissolved = June 17, 2021 , superseding1 = , agency_type = Former Secret Police Archive , jurisdiction = , status = Dissolved, now part of the German Federal Archives ...

, Dreyman reviews the files kept while he was under surveillance. He reads that Sieland was released just before the second search and could not have removed the typewriter. As he goes through the files, he is confused by the large amount of contradictory information, but as he reaches the final report and sees a fingerprint in red ink, he realises that the officer in charge of his surveillanceStasi officer HGW XX/7had concealed his activities, including his authorship of the suicide article, and also removed the typewriter from his apartment. Dreyman tracks down Wiesler, who now works as a deliverer of advertisement brochures, but is unsure how to thank him and decides not to approach him. Two years later, Wiesler passes a bookstore window display promoting Dreyman's new novel, ''Sonate vom Guten Menschen''. He enters the bookstore and opens a copy of the book, discovering that it is dedicated "To HGW XX/7, in gratitude". Wiesler buys the book. When asked if he would like the book giftwrapped, Wiesler replies: "No, it's for me."

Cast

as Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler *

as Christa-Maria Sieland *

as Georg Dreyman *

as Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz *

Thomas Thieme Thomas Thieme (born 29 October 1948) is a German actor. He is considered to be a prolific stage actor and also appeared in more than 100 film and television productions since 1973. In his film and television appearances, Thieme often plays power ...

as Minister Bruno Hempf *

Hans-Uwe Bauer Hans-Uwe Bauer (born 26 August 1955) is a German actor. He appeared in more than ninety films since 1979. Filmography Film References External links * 1955 births Living people German male film actors {{Germany-actor-stub ...

as Paul Hauser *

Volkmar Kleinert Volkmar Kleinert (born 20 September 1938) is a German actor. He studied at the Theaterhochschule Leipzig The Theaterhochschule Leipzig was a theatre school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, which existed from 1953 to 1992. The official name was Thea ...

as Albert Jerska *

Matthias Brenner Matthias Brenner (born 10 September 1957) is a German actor, director and writer. Matthias Brenner was born in Meiningen, Bezirk Suhl, East Germany, the son of actor Carl Rüdiger Brenner (1924–1984). He spent his childhood there.

as Karl Wallner *

Herbert Knaup Herbert Knaup (born 23 March 1956) is a German film and television actor. He is perhaps best-known to international audiences for his supporting roles in '' Run Lola Run'' (1998) and ''The Lives of Others'' (2006). Selected filmography * ''Coda ...

as Gregor Hessenstein, ''

''-journalist *

Charly Hübner Carsten Johannes Marcus Hübner (born 4 December 1972 in Neustrelitz) is a German actor. He appeared in more than eighty films since 2003, including ''Magical Mystery or: The Return of Karl Schmidt'' (in 2017) and The Good Neighbour (''Unter Nachb ...

as Udo Leveh, Wiesler's night shift * Bastian Trost as Häftling 227, prisoner *

Marie Gruber Marie Gruber (11 June 1955 in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia – 8 February 2018) was a German actress. She appeared in more than one hundred films since 1980. Selected filmography References External links

* 1955 births 2018 d ...

as Frau Meineke, neighbour * as typewriter expert *

Werner Daehn Werner Daehn (born 14 October 1967) is a German actor, who has worked with Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson in '' XXX'', with Jason Priestley in ''Colditz'' an ITV1 2005 miniseries, with Bill Pullman in '' Revelations'' and with Steven Seagal in ...

as Stasi officer-in-charge at house search *

Hinnerk Schönemann Hinnerk Schönemann (born 30 November 1974) is a German actor.
in

< ...

as Axel Stiegler, joketeller at Stasi * Gabi Fleming as the prostitute "Ute" *

Ludwig Blochberger Ludwig Blochberger (born 3 December 1982) is a German actor. He is best known for his appearance in the coming of age movie '' Summer Storm'' dealing with issues around sexual orientation. He also appeared on German TV drama programmes including ...

as Benedikt Lehmann, Wiesler's student

Production

's parents were both from East Germany (originally they were from further east; the von Donnersmarcks belonged to

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

n nobility but the region was transferred to Poland from Germany after World War II). He has said that, on visits there as a child before the

fell, he could sense the fear they had as subjects of the state. He said the idea for the film came to him when he was trying to come up with a scenario for a film class. He was listening to music and recalled

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

's saying that

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

's favorite piece of music was

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's ''

Appassionata Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (colloquially known as the ''Appassionata'', meaning "passionate" in Italian) is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period (the others being the ''Waldstein'', Op. 53 ...

''. Gorky recounted a discussion with Lenin: Donnersmarck told a ''New York Times'' reporter: "I suddenly had this image in my mind of a person sitting in a depressing room with earphones on his head and listening in to what he supposes is the enemy of the state and the enemy of his ideas, and what he is really hearing is beautiful music that touches him. I sat down and in a couple of hours had written the treatment." The screenplay was written during an extended visit to his uncle's monastery,

Heiligenkreuz Abbey Heiligenkreuz Abbey (german: Stift Heiligenkreuz; en, Abbey of the Holy Cross) is a Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna woods, c. 13 km north-west of Baden in Lower Austria. It is the olde ...

. Although the opening scene is set in Hohenschönhausen prison (which is now the site of a memorial dedicated to the victims of Stasi oppression), the film could not be shot there because

Hubertus Knabe Hubertus Knabe (born 1959) is a German historian and was the scientific director of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, a museum and memorial in a notorious former Stasi torture prison in Berlin. Knabe is noted for several works on oppression ...

, the director of the memorial, refused to give Donnersmarck permission. Knabe objected to "making the Stasi man into a hero" and tried to persuade Donnersmarck to change the film. Donnersmarck cited ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...

'' as an example of such a plot development being possible. Knabe's answer: "But that is exactly the difference. There was a Schindler. There was no Wiesler." Donnersmarck teamed up with cinematographer Hagen Bogdanski to bring the story to life. Describing his inspiration for the film's Brechtian grey color palette, cinematographer Bogdanski recalls the streets of East Berlin from the period: "They were very dark. Everything was happening inside, in private".

Reception

The film was received with widespread acclaim. Film aggregate site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 93% "Certified Fresh" rating, based on 149 positive reviews out of 161, and an average rating of 8.31/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Unlike more traditional spy films, ''The Lives of Others'' doesn't sacrifice character for cloak and dagger chases, and the performances (notably that by the late Ulrich Muhe) stay with you." It also has a score of 89 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". A review in ''Daily Variety'' by Derek Elley noted the "slightly stylized look" of the movie created by "playing up grays and dour greens, even when using actual locations like the Stasi's onetime HQ in Normannenstrasse." ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine's

Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment' ...

named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #2. Corliss praised the film as a "poignant, unsettling thriller." Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film four stars, describing it as "a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires." A. O. Scott, reviewing the film in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', wrote that ''Lives'' is well-plotted, and added, "The suspense comes not only from the structure and pacing of the scenes, but also, more deeply, from the sense that even in an oppressive society, individuals are burdened with free will. You never know, from one moment to the next, what course any of the characters will choose." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' movie critic

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

agreed that the dramatic tension of the film comes from being "meticulously plotted", and that "it places its key characters in high-stakes predicaments where what they are forced to wager is their talent, their very lives, even their souls." The movie "convincingly demonstrates that when done right, moral and political quandaries can be the most intensely dramatic dilemmas of all." American commentator

John Podhoretz John Mordecai Podhoretz (; born April 18, 1961) is an American writer. He is the editor of ''Commentary'' magazine, a columnist for the ''New York Post'', the author of several books on politics, and a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald ...

called the film "one of the greatest movies ever made, and certainly the best film of this decade."

William F. Buckley, Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...

wrote in his syndicated column that after the film was over, "I turned to my companion and said, 'I think that is the best movie I ever saw.'" John J. Miller of ''

National Review Online ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

'' named it No. 1 in his list of "The Best Conservative Movies" of the last 25 years. Several critics pointed to the film's subtle building up of details as one of its prime strengths. The film is built "on layers of emotional texture", wrote Stephanie Zacharek in ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

'' online magazine. Josh Rosenblatt, writing in the ''Austin Chronicle'' called the film "a triumph of muted grandeur." Lisa Schwarzbaum, writing in ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'', pointed out that some of the subtlety in the film is due to the fact that "one of the movie's tensest moments take place with the most minimal of action" but that the director still "conveys everything he wants us to know about choice, fear, doubt, cowardice, and heroism." An article in ''

First Things ''First Things'' (''FT'') is an ecumenical and conservative religious journal aimed at "advanc nga religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society". The magazine, which focuses on theology, liturgy, church history, religio ...

'' makes a philosophical argument in defense of Wiesler's transformation. The East German dissident songwriter

Wolf Biermann Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976. Early life Biermann was b ...

was guardedly enthusiastic about the film, writing in a March 2006 article in ''Die Welt'': "The political tone is authentic, I was moved by the plot. But why? Perhaps I was just won over sentimentally, because of the seductive mass of details which look like they were lifted from my own past between the total ban of my work in 1965 and denaturalisation in 1976."

Anna Funder Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. She is the author of '' Stasiland'' and '' All That I Am'' and the novella ''The Girl With the Dogs''. Life Funder went to primary school in Melbourne and Paris; she attended Star of the Sea Co ...

, the author of the book ''

Stasiland ''Stasiland'' by Anna Funder is a book first published in Australia by Text Publishing in 2002 about individuals who resisted the East German regime, and others who worked for its secret police, the Stasi. It tells the story of what it was like to ...

'', in a review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called ''The Lives of Others'' a "superb film" despite not being true to reality. She claims that it was not possible for a Stasi operative to have hidden information from superiors because Stasi employees themselves were watched and almost always operated in teams. In a 2016

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

poll, critics voted the film the 32nd greatest since 2000. According to German author

Christoph Hein Christoph Hein (; born 8 April 1944) is a German author and translator. He grew up in the village Bad Düben near Leipzig. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule in the GDR, he received secondary educati ...

, the movie is loosely based on his life story. In a 2019 article, he recalls that Donnersmarck interviewed him in 2002, and that his name was mentioned in the opening credits at the premiere screening. However, in Hein's opinion the highly dramatized events of the movie bear little resemblance to his life experience, which is why he asked Donnersmarck to delete his name from the credits. In Hein's words, "the movie does not depict the 1980s in the GDR", but is a "scary tale taking place in a fantasy land, comparable to Tolkien's

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...

Awards and honors

The film and its principals have won numerous awards. Among the most prestigious are: *

79th Academy Awards The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2006 and took place February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m ...

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

61st British Academy Film Awards The 61st British Academy Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 10 February 2008 and honoured the best films of 2007. ''Atonement'' won Best Film, while Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, won Best Directo ...

Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, r ...

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

Best Foreign Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most ...

** Best Film ** Best Actor:

** Best Screenwriter:

German Film Awards German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

** Best Film ** Best Actor ** Best Supporting Actor ** Best Director ** Best Cinematography ** Best Production Design ** Best Screenplay *

Bavarian Film Awards The Bavarian Film Awards (german: Bayerischer Filmpreis) have been awarded annually since 1979 by the state government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are th ...

2006 ** Best Actor: Ulrich Mühe ** Best Newcomer Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ** Best Screenplay: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck *

Vilnius International Film Festival The Vilnius International Film Festival (VIFF) Kino pavasaris is a film festival held annually in March in Vilnius, Lithuania since 1995, and is the largest film festival in the nation in number of films and audience. It is one of the most anticipa ...

** The Audience Award ''The Lives of Others'' also appeared on many critics' lists of the ten best films of 2007. * 1st:

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

ReelViews James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

* 1st:

Shawn Levy Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian film director, film producer, actor, and founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. He has worked across genres and is perhaps best known as the director of the ''Night at the Museum'' film franchise an ...

, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' * 2nd: ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' * 2nd: Marjorie Baumgarten, ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' * 2nd:

Michael Sragow Michael Sragow (born June 26, 1952 in New York) is a film critic and columnist who has written for the ''Orange County Register'', ''The Baltimore Sun'', ''Film Comment'', ''The San Francisco Examiner'', ''The New Times'', ''The New Yorker'' (whe ...

, ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' * 2nd:

, ''TIME'' magazine * 3rd: Rene Rodriguez, ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.David Ansen David Ansen is an American film critic. He was a senior editor for ''Newsweek'', where he served as film critic from 1977 to 2008 and subsequently contribute to the magazined in a freelance capacity. Prior to writing for ''Newsweek'', he served a ...

, ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' * 4th:

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

, ''

'' * 5th:

, ''

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' * 5th:

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

, ''

'' * 5th: Liam Lacey and Rick Groen, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' * 5th:

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

, ''

'' * 7th: Christy Lemire,

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

* 7th: Tasha Robinson, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' * 8th:

A.O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...

, ''

'' (tied with ''

Michael Clayton ''Michael Clayton'' is a 2007 American legal thriller film written and directed by Tony Gilroy in his feature directorial debut and starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack. Clooney plays lawyer Michael Clayton, w ...

'') * 8th: Kyle Smith, ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

Acclaim

The Europe List, the largest survey on European culture established that the top three films in European culture are: # Roberto Benigni's ''

Life is Beautiful ''Life Is Beautiful'' ( it, La vita è bella, ) is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who emplo ...

'' # Donnersmarck's ''The Lives of Others'' # Jean-Pierre Jeunet's ''

Amélie ''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, italic=yes) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume L ...

'' Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden had the film at number 1.

Proposed remake

In February 2007,

Sydney Pollack Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films. For his film ''Out ...

and

Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...

announced a deal with

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America prior ...

to produce and direct an English-language remake of ''The Lives of Others''. Minghella died in March 2008 and Pollack died less than three months later.

Influence

Israeli intelligence controversy

In September 2014, 43 members of the Israeli elite clandestine

Unit 8200 Unit 8200 ( he, יחידה 8200, ''Yehida shmone -Matayim''- "Unit eight - two hundred") is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption. Military pu ...

wrote a letter to Israel's prime minister and army chief, refusing further service and claiming Israel made "no distinction between Palestinians who are and are not involved in violence" and that information collected "harms innocent people." One of these people named a viewing of ''The Lives of Others'' as "the transformational moment".

2013 mass surveillance disclosures

''The Lives of Others'' has been referred to in political protests following the

2013 mass surveillance disclosures Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg (born April 7, 1931) is an American political activist, and former United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the ''Pent ...

in an interview with

Brad Friedman Bradley Louis Friedman (born July 19, 1966) is an American blogger, journalist, actor, radio broadcaster, director and software programmer, most known for his criticism of election integrity issues in the United States. Friedman graduated from ...

on KPFK/Pacifica Radio republished on

salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

stressed the importance of ''The Lives of Others'' in light of

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...

's revelations: Film critic and historian

Carrie Rickey Carrie Rickey (born November 26, 1952) is a feminist American art and film critic. Rickey is the film critic at ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' and often contributes to ''The New York Times'', ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and ''Village Voice''. Her e ...

believes that ''The Lives of Others'' was one of two movies that influenced Snowden's actions, the other being the 1974

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

film ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Rober ...

'', both being about wiretappers troubled by guilt. On 25 June 2013, after revelations of collaboration between the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

and

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...

, British journalist and documentary maker

Sarfraz Manzoor Sarfraz Manzoor ( ur, سرفراز منظور; born 9 June 1971) is a British journalist, documentary maker, broadcaster, and screenwriter of Pakistani origin. He is a regular contributor to ''The Guardian'', presenter of documentaries on BBC Ra ...

tweeted that "Now would be a good time to pitch a British remake of ''The Lives of Others''." On 16 July 2013, American novelist and frequent cable news commentator Brad Thor stated: "At what point did the Obama administration acquire the rights to reenact ''The Lives of Others''?" French President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

gave an interview in ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' expressing his outrage over being the target of surveillance himself. He drew a direct comparison to the film: "This is not a scene from that marvellous film ''The Lives of Others'', about East Germany and the activities of the Stasi. It is not the case of some dictator acting against his political opponents. This is France." Because of this interview, sales of ''

'' more than doubled.

Libel suit

Henckel von Donnersmarck and Ulrich Mühe were successfully sued for libel for an interview in which Mühe asserted that his second wife,

Jenny Gröllmann Jenny Gröllmann (5 February 1947 – 9 August 2006) was a German actress, best known for her work on films '' I Was Nineteen'' (1968), '' Peas at 5:30'' (2004) and her recurring role on the show ''Polizeiruf 110''. She won an Ernst Zinna Prize ...

, informed the Stasi about his activities while they were East German citizens through the six years of their marriage. Mühe's former wife denied the claims, although 254 pages of government records detailed her activities. However, Gröllmann's real-life controller later claimed he had made up many of the details in the file and that the actress had been unaware that she was speaking to a Stasi agent.

Literature and music

* Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: ''Das Leben der anderen.'' Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006, * Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: ''Das Leben der anderen. Geschwärzte Ausgabe.'' Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2007, * The

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...

"Sonata for a Good Man", used as the main transformation point of the

Agent Gerd Wiesler, does not carry the name of the composer, as it is original music written for the film by

Gabriel Yared Gabriel Yared (Arabic: غبريال يارد; born 7 October 1949) is a Lebanese-French composer, best known for his work in French and American cinema. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Yared scored the French films ''Betty Blue'' and ''Camille Claude ...

. * Regarding

is quoted as having said that: "If I keep listening to it, I won't finish the revolution". * An excerpt from a 1920 poem by

Bertold Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

, "

Reminiscence of Marie A. "Reminiscence of Marie A." or "Memory of Marie A." (German: ''"Erinnerung an die Marie A."'') is a 1920 poem by German poet and playwright Bertold Brecht (1889-1956) that was first published in his collection ''Die Hauspostille'' (1927). Brecht wr ...

", is recited in the film in a scene in which Wiesler reads it on his couch, having taken it from Dreyman's desk. * The poem "Versuch es" by

Wolfgang Borchert Wolfgang Borchert (; 20 May 1921 – 20 November 1947) was a German author and playwright whose work was strongly influenced by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the ''Wehrmacht'' during the Second World War. His work is among t ...

is set to music in the film and played as Dreyman writes the article about suicide. Borchert was a playwright whose life was destroyed by his experience of being drafted into the Wehrmacht in World War II and fighting on the Eastern Front.

References

Notes Bibliography * Paul Cooke (ed.): ''"The Lives of Others" and Contemporary German Film. A Companion.'' De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2013, . * John Hamilton (musician, scholar): Conspiracy, Security, and Human Care in Donnersmarck's Leben der Anderen. '' Historical Social Research 2013'' Vol. 38 (2013), No. 1, pp. 129–141.
Article
in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' about the film's political impact in Germany
Interview in indieWIRE
with

about the film
Directing 'The Lives of Others'audio
, a February 2007

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...

interview
Teaching material
from digischool.nl

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lives Of Others 2000s German-language films 2000s political thriller films 2000s spy films 2000s thriller drama films 2006 directorial debut films 2006 drama films 2006 films Best Foreign Film César Award winners Best Foreign Film Guldbagge Award winners Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award winners Cold War films European Film Awards winners (films) Films about intelligence agencies Films about journalism Films about playwrights Films about security and surveillance Films about sexual abuse Films about suicide Films about the Berlin Wall Films about writers Films critical of communism Films directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Films scored by Gabriel Yared Films set in 1984 Films set in 1985 Films set in 1989 Films set in 1992 Films set in 1994 Films set in Berlin Films set in East Germany German political thriller films German thriller drama films Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film winners Sony Pictures Classics films Works about the Stasi Films distributed by Disney 2000s German films

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

Awards and honors

Acclaim

Proposed remake

Influence

Israeli intelligence controversy

2013 mass surveillance disclosures

Libel suit

Literature and music

See also

References

External links