The Live of Others
Film Title (Original): DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN
Film Title (English): The Live of Others
Film Title (Spanish): La Vida de Otros
Country of Origin: Germany
Year of Completition: 2006
Running Time: 137 minutes
Format/Color/BW: 35mm, Color
Language: German
- Spanish Subtitles
 Director: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck | Biography | Watch Trailer
Film Synopsis - Short:
One of the most powerful films to emerge from Germany in a decade,
The Lives of Others swept seven prizes at the 2006 German Film Awards, won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and seven Lola Awards among others. Beautifully written and exceptionally staged, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie debut focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany in the early 1980.
Film Synopsis - Long:
The Lives of Others swept seven prizes at the 2006 German Film Awards, won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and seven Lola Awards among others. Beautifully written and exceptionally staged, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie debut focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany in the early 1980.
Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government (known as the GDR, German Democratic Republic) ensures its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance via the Stasi, a vast network of informers that at one time numbered 200,000 out of a population of 17 million. Their goal is to know everything about “the lives of others.”
At once a political thriller and human drama, The Lives of Others begins in East Berlin in 1984, and ultimately takes us to 1991, in what is now the reunited Germany. The Lives of Others traces the gradual disillusionment of Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe, best known for his lead roles in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games and as Dr. Mengele in Costa-Gavras’ Amen), a highly skilled officer who works for the Stasi, East Germany’s all-powerful secret police. His mission is to spy on a celebrated writer and actress couple, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck).
The Lives of Others presents a blistering indictment of the former East Germany’s Kafkaesque regime, while retaining a human portrait of its protagonists Henckel von Donnersmarck has made one of the most powerful films to emerge from Germany in a decade.
Film Credits
Director: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
Producers: Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann
Screenwriter: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
Cinematography : Hagen Bogdanski
Editing: Patricia Rommel
Music : Gabriel Yared, Stéphane Moucha
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch,
Ulrich Tukur.
Film History/Prizes:
2006 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film
2006 Los Angeles Film Critic Award for Best Foreign Language Film
2006 European Film Award for Best Film, Best Actor – Ulrich Mühe and Best Screenwriter
Winner of 7 Lola Awards (the German equivalent of the Academy Awards) 2006 for
Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and
Best Production Design and Best Cinematography
Official Selection 2006 Telluride Film Festival
Official Selection 2006 Toronto International Film Festival |
