Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch

East Berlin, November 1984: Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. Party-loyalist Captain Gerd...( read more  read more... ) Wiesler hopes to boost his career when given the job of collecting evidence against the playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend, the celebrated theater actress Christa-Maria Sieland. After all, the "operation" is backed by the highest political circles. What he didn't anticipate, however, was that submerging oneself into the world of the target also changes the surveillance agent. The immersion in the lives of others--in love, literature, free thinking and speech--makes Wiesler acutely aware of the meagerness of his own existence and opens to him a completely new way of life, which he has ever more trouble resisting. But, the system, once started, cannot be stopped. A dangerous game has begun.

Flixster Users

96% liked it

35,267 ratings

Critics

93% liked it

145 critics

R, 2 hrs. 17 min.

Directed by: Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck

Release Date: March 23, 2006

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DVD Release Date: August 21, 2007

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Stats: 11,807 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (11,807)


  • October 1, 2009
    A fantastic film! Easily the best I?ve seen in a long time. Everything about this film is sublime, its perfect! The ending has to be in my top 10 best of all time. Highly recommended!
  • July 1, 2009
    A brilliant movie. Who says people can't change?
  • May 31, 2009
    The greenish-hued images create the perfect mood for the film. The story is incredibly moving and the main cast is exceptional.
  • March 1, 2009
    Writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck chose the perfect year to start his film, the Orwellian 1984, in the last gasps of the east german apparat.
    Somber, deeply moving, full of anxiety and with an incredibly subtle and engaging performance by Ulrich Mühe.
  • January 10, 2009
    I can't think of an espionage thriller that is more tense and well-balanced than this almost pitch perfect film from Germany.
  • November 1, 2009
    Who says people can't change? A marvelous movie !
  • October 29, 2009
    !Comercial or Stupid! :|
  • October 27, 2009
    an amazing film. the sadness expressed by every element of the movie is overwhelmingly powerful and the whole character of HGW XX/7 is developed so easily through his silence and the place where he lives. The best thing is the fact that the movie's ending keeps with the depressin...( read more)g mood of the rest of the movie making it very believeable. The performances of all the actors are great. While some scenes are quite disturbing, the sheer desperation and sadness which consumes the lives of the three main characters is portrayed realistically and you really feel for people who were, and maybe still are, in their situation
  • October 27, 2009
    simply powerful ! especially that last line,really gave me chills and tears..
  • October 18, 2009
    Notable... la trama atrapa y los personajes interesan. A pesar de la atmósfera gris y apagada, lleva a pensar en el arte, el amor, la esperanza... todo ello que provoca una transformación en el protagonista, llevándolo a darle la espalda al sistema para el cual trabaja y en el cu...( read more)al creía. Tiene algunos puntos flojos en sus fundamentos para semejante cambio, pero nada que afecte significativamente el mensaje. Recomendada.

Critic Reviews


September 21, 2007
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The Lives of Others is a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires. full review

July 11, 2007
Armond White, The New York Press

How surprising that a new German film would teach Americans about human faith at a time when acclaimed movies like Borat lack faith. full review

March 2, 2007
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Its suspense builds on the fragile and nuanced business of emotional rebirth. full review

February 15, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

The exceptionally acted film, nominated for a foreign-language Oscar, is an incisive character study, a suspenseful paranoid thriller and a vivid recreation of recent history. full review

February 9, 2007
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Moving and deeply satisfying. full review

February 9, 2007
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The Lives of Others is a supremely intelligent, unfailingly honest look at a shadowy period in recent German history.

February 5, 2007
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

A cunning piece of construction -- a Kafkaesque tearjerker, a tragic farce. full review

February 5, 2007
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

If there is any justice, this year's Academy Award for best foreign-language film will go to The Lives of Others, a movie about a world in which there is no justice. full review

January 25, 2007
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Von Donnersmarck has crafted the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head. full review

December 1, 2006
Pete Hammond, Maxim

A startling political thriller and the year's most urgent and important film, you owe it to yourself to see this beautifully written and directed movie. full review

View more Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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