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The Reader

7.2

49,955

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Original title

The Reader

Year

2008

Running time

123 min.

Country

United States

Director

Stephen Daldry

Screenwriter

David Hare. Novel: Bernhard Schlink

Cast

Music

Nico Muhly

Cinematography

Chris Menges, Roger Deakins

Producer

Co-production United States-Germany;

The Weinstein Company, Mirage Entertainment, Studio Babelsberg

Genre

Drama. Romance | Nazism. Holocaust. Literature. 1950s. 1960s. 1970s. 1980s. 1990s

Synopsis

Germany after World War II. Michael Berg (David Kross), a fifteen-year-old boy, loses consciousness on his way home from school. Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a serious and reserved woman twice his age, picks him up and takes him home. A passionate, secret idyll develops between the two, only to be interrupted by Hanna's mysterious disappearance. Eight years later, as a law student, Michael meets her again, but in a situation he could never have imagined.

Awards: 2008: Oscar Awards: Best Actress (Kate Winslet). 5 Nominations

2008: Golden Globes: Best Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet). 3 Nominations

2008: Screen Actors Guild: Best Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet)

2009: European Film Awards: Best Actress (Kate Winslet). 3 Nominations

2008: BAFTA Awards: Best Actress (Winslet). 5 Nominations, including Best Film

2008: Critics' Choice Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Winslet). 3 Nominations

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Critics' reviews

"Engrossing, graceful adaptation (...) lucid, absorbing and finally deeply moving"

Ann Hornaday: The Washington Post
"Winslet's fierce, unerring portrayal goes beyond acting, becoming a provocation that will keep you up nights. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"

Peter Travers: Rolling Stone
"The filmmakers are comfortable showing Hanna's sexual nudity when, really, we need proof of her moral nakedness. Otherwise, what we're told radically alters the meaning of what we see."

Wesley Morris: Boston Globe
"A slow-moving but absorbing story of sexual awakening and moral dilemmas. (...) Though the effort is uneven, it's a well-acted romance that becomes a less compelling courtroom drama. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)."

Claudia Puig: USA Today
"I believe the movie may be demonstrating a fact of human nature: Most people, most of the time, all over the world, choose to go along. We vote with the tribe (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"You have to wonder who, exactly, wants or perhaps needs to see another movie about the Holocaust that embalms its horrors with artfully spilled tears and asks us to pity a death-camp guard"

Manohla Dargis: The New York Times
"I can't forgive this film for being so shallow and so obtuse on such a subject (...) It left a very strange taste in my mouth (…) Rating: ★ (out of 5)"

Peter Bradshaw: The Guardian
"The revelation of evil not only confounds the characters here; it numbs the film, stifles whatever wayward life it once had in it."

Mike McCahill: Telegraph

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Ranking Lists Position

11 My Top 10 Movies from 2008 (376)
33 Movies with a Great Female Lead (72)
51 Most Memorable Erotic Movies (29)
60 My Favorite Romantic Dramas (75)
85 My Favorite Book to Film Adaptation (26)
91 Best Movies I've Seen in Theaters Lately (22)

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The Reader

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