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The Reader

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The Reader (2008)
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The Reader overview

Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes star in The Hours director Stephen Daldry's haunting period romance tracing the complicated love affair between a German teen and a mysterious woman twice his age. Based on author Bernhard Schlink's best-selling novel of the same name, The Reader opens in post-World War II Germany, where ailing teenager Michael Berg has fallen ill with scarlet fever. Nursed back to health by Hanna, Michael eventually makes a full recovery and decides to thank his benevolent caretaker in person. Upon being reunited, Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and the pair quickly enters into a passionate yet clandestine affair. Later, after intense readings of The Odyssey and Huck Finn, among others, Hanna vanishes without a trace, leaving Michael heartbroken and despondent. Flash-forward nearly a decade, and Michael is a law student observing Nazi war crime trials. When Hanna wanders into the courtroom and takes a seat in the defendant's chair, her past comes into focus just as Michael uncovers the secret that will have a profound impact on both of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

News & Reviews

The Reader News & Reviews

"Range has never been an issue for Kate Winslet, nor has Academy love. As Hanna Schmitz, Winslet is solid in the early, sensual sequences. "
21 May 2009
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"Before this year's Oscar nominations were announced, the often-bloody battle for Best Picture looked more like a gentlemanly game of cricket. The film won Best Picture anyway, defeating Miramax's contender, In the Bedroom, and Weinstein has always adamantly denied the charges. "
07 February 2009
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"The effectiveness of The Reader depends on the cinematic flair of the Third Reich's founder."
05 January 2009
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"The Reader is an exemplary piece of filmmaking, superbly acted by Kate Winslet, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes, beautifully lit by two of Britain's finest cinematographers (Roger Deakins and Chris Menges) and sensitively directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by David Hare. In certain ways they sharpen Bernard Schlink's bestselling German novel of 1995 which deals with a subject - Nazi concentration camps and the Holocaust - that has hung over my generation since the outbreak of war in 1939, days after my sixth birthday."
05 January 2009
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"Post-WW2 Germany. Get past the actors speaking and reading in English while the street signs are in German, and you’ll be embroiled in a complex, compelling drama. "
4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
02 January 2009
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comments

The Reader comments

lynn
" All around good heart-string pulling times, though I have to wonder what they'll do with all the full-frontal and sex scenes for tv. Very true to the book, though I don't seem to remember it ending in the same way, which was kind of flat. Hmm. Anyway, there was definitely an expectation on my part, especially knowing how huge the scene in the trial would be and I'm not quite sure it delivered quite the way I had hoped. Also, Michael seemed not a wit older in law school. Couldn't they afford another actor?"
by lynn, 23 January 2009
lynn
" Very true to the book, though I don't seem to remember it ending in the same way, which was kind of flat. Hmm. Anyway, there was definitely an expectation on my part, especially knowing how huge the scene in the trial would be and I'm not quite sure it delivered quite the way I had hoped. Also, Michael seemed not a wit older in law school. Couldn't they afford another actor? All around good heart-string pulling times though."
by lynn, 22 January 2009