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IMDbPro

The Lives of Others

Original title: Das Leben der Anderen
  • 20062006
  • RR
  • 2h 17m
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
392K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,011
80
Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, and Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others (2006)
DramaMysteryThriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
392K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,011
80
    • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
    • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  • Stars
    • Ulrich Mühe
    • Martina Gedeck
    • Sebastian Koch
    • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
    • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  • Stars
    • Ulrich Mühe
    • Martina Gedeck
    • Sebastian Koch
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 572User reviews
    • 225Critic reviews
    • 89Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Top rated movie #58
    • Won 1 Oscar

    Photos70

    Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Martina Gedeck in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Thomas Arnold, Thomas Thieme, and Ulrich Tukur in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Ulrich Mühe and Ulrich Tukur in The Lives of Others (2006)
    Ulrich Mühe and Ulrich Tukur in The Lives of Others (2006)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ulrich Mühe
    Ulrich Mühe
    • Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler
    Martina Gedeck
    Martina Gedeck
    • Christa-Maria Sieland
    Sebastian Koch
    Sebastian Koch
    • Georg Dreyman
    Ulrich Tukur
    Ulrich Tukur
    • Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz
    Thomas Thieme
    • Minister Bruno Hempf
    Hans-Uwe Bauer
    • Paul Hauser
    Volkmar Kleinert
    Volkmar Kleinert
    • Albert Jerska
    Matthias Brenner
    Matthias Brenner
    • Karl Wallner
    Charly Hübner
    Charly Hübner
    • Udo
    Herbert Knaup
    Herbert Knaup
    • Gregor Hessenstein
    Bastian Trost
    • Häftling 227
    Marie Gruber
    Marie Gruber
    • Frau Meineke
    Volker Michalowski
    Volker Michalowski
    • Schriftexperte
    • (as Zack Volker Michalowski)
    Werner Daehn
    Werner Daehn
    • Einsatzleiter in Uniform
    Martin Brambach
    Martin Brambach
    • Einsatzleiter Meyer
    Hubertus Hartmann
    • Egon Schwalber
    Thomas Arnold
    Thomas Arnold
    • Nowack
    Hinnerk Schönemann
    Hinnerk Schönemann
    • Unterleutnant Axel Stigler
      • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
      • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      All the listening/recording props in the film are actual Stasi equipment on loan from museums and collectors. The props master had spent two years in a Stasi prison, and insisted upon absolute authenticity, down to the machine used to steam-open up to 600 letters per hour.
    • Goofs
      Secretary Hempf's car is a 1980s stretch version of a Volvo 264. But all the interior scenes are shot using a Mercedes Benz S-Class Pullmann from the time of the film production. In a short clip the Mercedes is also used for an exterior shot, when Grubitz enters the car outside the ministry building.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Buchverkäufer: 29.80. Would you like it gift wrapped?

      Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler: No. It's for me.

    • Alternate versions
      The US version features a written prologue in English, explaining the historical context of the film.
    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: The Best Films of 2006 (2006)
    • Soundtracks
      Ich Wurde Wenn Ich Wusste, Dass Ich Konnte
      Performed by 4PS

      Lyrics By Kurt Demmler

      Music By Joachim-Franz Bartzsch

      Published By Edition Air Franz

      (P) 2007 Colosseum Music Entertainment GmbH, Licensed From Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Germany) GmbH

    User reviews572

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    The globe's best . . .
    "Who knows the secrets of the human heart?" Col in The Crying Game

    WhenI saw 2006's Oscar winning Departed, I was satisfied it could be the best picture of the year; then I saw Pan's Labyrinth and thought it imaginatively superior; then I saw Lives of Others, the Oscar choice for best foreign film, and I knew it was the globe's best film of the year, no argument.

    Lives of Others is what all movie making should strive to be: interesting characters, thrilling plot, superb acting, and thematic weight. It's set in East Berlin, 1984, five years before the Wall's fall and Gorbachev's "glasnost" and still felling the tremors of Nazism, in this case the Stasi, a government agency similar to the SS. Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe), a Stasi teacher and coldly efficient information gatherer, surreptitiously watches playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) to get compromising details that would damn Dreyman and open the romantic way for the culture minister, Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme). Oddly for an artist, Dreyman is loyal to socialism, so it is through Sieland that the information must come.

    The dramatic hub of this absorbing intrigue is the growing affection Wiesler gains for the actress and coincidentally the underground freedom movement, mostly as it is represented by artists and their friends. While his efficiency is amply evident in his cool detachment, similar to that of Rafe Fiennes in Schindler's List and Serg Lopez in Pan's Labyrinth, his humanity seeps out at the edges as he becomes vicariously involved in the artists' lives. First-time director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck misses not a beat in slowly revealing the hearts of all his principals while he creates a plot remarkably interesting for a character-driven piece.

    Few films could mine the rich conflict between the totalitarian state and artists who yearn for freedom of expression, between the loyalties of friends and lovers and the crushing exigency of survival. Lives of Others shows how difficult it is to watch others' lives unfold and not be drawn to their passion. It's rough out there: No other film of 2006 showed that cliché better. Here's looking at you, best film of the year.
    helpful•44
    10
    • jdesando
    • Mar 7, 2007

    FAQ6

    • Is this movie based on a book?
    • I do not understand the "telephone joke" that Grubitz tells in the MfS cafeteria
    • How does Dreyman know when he sees the red thumb print on his file that Wiesler saved him?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 30, 2007 (United States)
      • Germany
      • France
      • Official site (United States)
      • German
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Gedenkstätte Hohenschönhausen, Hohenschönhausen, Berlin, Germany
    • Production companies
      • Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion
      • Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
      • ARTE
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 2 hours 17 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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