Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross

Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.

Flixster Users

79% liked it

38,302 ratings

Critics

62% liked it

179 critics

R, 2 hrs. 2 min.

Directed by: Stephen Daldry

Release Date: December 10, 2008

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DVD Release Date: April 14, 2009

Stats: 13,269 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (13,269)


  • September 20, 2009
    Going way too far with the rating, I know...but truth is I loved this film. I was just postponing watching it because I highly doubted its greatness, but finally seeing it made me think otherwise.

    Kate Winslet is wonderful - she deserved the Globe truly and absolutely so - maybe...( read more) she could grab an Oscar on her way out. Ralph Fiennes for his relatively short part was also fantastic; the scene where he records his voice incessantly was simply brilliant. And David Kross doesn't/didn't receive enough credit, I actually thought he was co-equal to Winslet's performance.

    This film is an ode to love, truth, trust and betrayal. It was a bit emotionally over-the-top at times, but the theme required so. It's inspiring, powerful and heartbreaking. It surpasses lots of this year's films.
  • August 12, 2009
    Very good movie. Kate Winslet was amazing. It was sad, but it told a good story.
  • July 23, 2009
    Given the hype, a mildly disappointing foray into German guilt with a faintly preposterous 'reveal' . While I could watch Kate peel potatoes for 2 hours I wasn't actually carried along by her performance. Given that interpreting her facial expressions is all you have to get a sen...( read more)se of the character for much of the film, I didn't feel I knew the motives of her character. So as is often the case a great actress has got the Oscar for a lesser of her works.
  • July 18, 2009
    I'm not the huge Winslet fan half the world seems to be - not that I don't like her, but I don't think she's the second coming. But in this, she was INCREDIBLE! The best performance I've ever seen out of her. I liked this movie - it did something a bit novel with the very, very p...( read more)layed out Holocaust genre (if you're going to say something about the Holocaust, make it interesting, because soooooo many artists have probably already said what you're about to say before you and approximately 5 billion times in a billion mediums), and I really respect that. I wish Fiennes, with all his talent, didn't keep ending up with these roles of painfully passive men.... He's always a Nazi or this passive man stock character, and it gets annoying. But anyway, good movie, complicated and textured look at compassion and what defines the moral constitution of a person, etc... and I'm all for that. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.
  • July 11, 2009
    Being illiterate did not excuse her of her crimes. However, I think her life would have taken a totally different path if she had been able to read.
  • November 8, 2009
    A very deep and interesting movie. Being a mother of a teen boy I am not sure how I feel about the "summer romance" in this story. I guess it was beautiful in a way, but so disturbing as well. She was an adult, and he was a child, so that seemed creepy to me. If it had been a...( read more)n adult man and a young girl, most people would see that as wrong. If not morally, then at least illegal.

    I knew what the story was about, but I thought they would become friends, then read stuff, and the romance/SEX would happen later. Boy was I wrong! I liked the rest of the story, as the boy grows older but remains in love with her, and how her past comes back to haunt her, and how their paths cross once again. Making the decisions each of them made to withhold important information, and how it greatly affected both of their lives was probably the best part of the story. All in all it was a pretty good movie.

    Side note: First Titanic, then Iris, and now especially the Reader...I am getting a little sick of seeing Kate Winslet naked so much. I may need to avoid her in movies from now on.
  • November 6, 2009
    È buffo come in certi film si arrivi ad affezionarsi a personaggi malvagi e politicamente scorretti, e in questo caso è impossibile, è davvero impossibile poter odiare Hanna o avercela con lei, anzi, si arriva anche a provare tenerezza, o un qualcosa di simile.
    Splendido.
  • November 5, 2009
    Very strange movie....has an interesting ending.... not much of a story
  • November 4, 2009
    one of the worst movies of all time.
  • November 4, 2009
    This is artistic film, although so many sex scene in this film,
    we can't imagine liar or bad film, this is very touched....

Critic Reviews


January 5, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

The still, sad music of humanity - surely that should have been The Reader's score. We hear it in Winslet's performance at least, at once contained and tremendous, at once filigree in touch and fully ... full review

December 30, 2008
Chris Kaltenbach, The Baltimore Sun

Finely nuanced and calibrated performances from Winslet (with a convincing German accent) and Kross notwithstanding, this is one film audiences won't embrace nearly as emphatically as it embraces itself. full review

December 29, 2008
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

The Reader, based on Bernhard Schlink's novel, is a tragedy told with such precise remoteness, you feel as if you're watching it from across the room. full review

December 25, 2008
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

There is a sense of ambiguity at the core of The Reader that makes it all the more brutal, all the more honest in its deflowering of love and what one imagines love ought to be instead of what it too ... full review

December 25, 2008
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Surrounding the Holocaust morality play is another story that's more modestly scaled and, in this age of unashamed romance between older women and younger men, more contemporary. full review

December 24, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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. full review

December 24, 2008
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

After a sensuous introductory act, The Reader descends into a series of dismaying contradictions regarding the moral toxins of the Holocaust -- which still pollute postwar Germany. full review

December 24, 2008
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Told, coolly...the novel was hugely popular as well as controversial worldwide and an Oprah's Book Club selection besides. I'm afraid it needed a different set of interpreters to make any emotional se... full review

December 15, 2008
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

It appears that the filmmakers have taken Hannah Arendt's notion of the 'banality of evil' way too literally. full review

December 12, 2008
Kurt Loder, MTV

A triumphant performance by Kate Winslet anchors the year's most disturbing Holocaust movie. full review

View more The Reader reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • aefiorillo1
    April 15, 2009
    The Reader:is a haunting story about thruth and reconciliation,about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another.
    Lena Olin in The Reader:impeccable,supporting performances "from Bruno Ganz and Lena Olin amongothers",his final scene with Lena Olin a concentracion camp victim,tis memarkable.
    Beautiful and perfect movie....
  • AsianNorthOfThailandGeneration
    April 5, 2009
    glittering rock


    " Hey i'm had to seen it previewed in the theatre & on the box office .You know i'm really wishing would like to watch it . Have you watch it? "

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The Reader Trivia


  • 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Awards Best Actress   Answer »
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