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THE READER

With Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz, Susanne Lothar, Alissa Wilms, Florian Bartholomäi, Friederike Becht, Matthias Habich, Jürgen Tarrach, Volker Bruch

Written by David Hare (based on the book by Bernhard Schlink)
Directed by Stephen Daldry

While I'd like to call this film “bitter-sweet”, far more of the term's former part is present than the latter. The viewer is taken to post-WWII Germany in flashbacks taking up most of the film's screen-time. A teenager has a chance meeting with a tram conductor when he falls ill. After returning to thank her for her help, they soon get entwined in an affair. Part of this secret relationship also involves him bringing a range of books along and reading it to her. Their meetings become the focus of his every day, but this whirlwind experience comes to an abrupt end. He encounters her again many years later while he's studying law at university, but in a very different situation, not only catapulting the story into even more emotional territory but also a moral dichotomy and fortitude.
This is far more involved than a mere coming-of-age tale of infatuation and love, as it touches on war atrocities, literacy, pride and ignorance.
A heavy movie indeed, which earned Kate Winslet her first Oscar win.

5 / C
- Paul Blom


0 1 2 3 4 5 6
- A - B
- C


6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

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