The Reader
The Reader opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna (played by Kate Winslet, in her Oscar winning performance), a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair.
Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from The Odyssey, Huck Finn and The Lady with the Little Dog. Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken.
Eight years later while Michael (now played by Ralph Fiennes) is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life - this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna's past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives.
- Director:
- Stephen Daldry ('The Hours', 'Billy Elliott')
- Writer:
- David Hare
- Cast:
- Kate WinsletRalph FiennesJeanette HainDavid Kross
Reviews & comments
Daldry's direction the highlight
Stephen Daldry maintains a tight, exemplary, direction of a film which offers a lot with its script but fails to realise its potential. The key problem being that the middle of the film whets the appetite with some juicy courtroom scenes and lecture theatre postulating, which tempts the viewer to think the movie will seek to analyse that great unanswered...
It lingers for weeks
This was an excellent film withveiled theme, strong characters, fine acting and a plot which continued to mislead and provoke. No cliches here. The Law lecturer encapsulates the moral dilemma of at least one young German in the context of justice within the law. Whether his actions and inactions are worse than hers is left for the viewer to ponder.
Variety
pressStephen Daldry's film is sensitively realized and dramatically absorbing, but comes across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact.
Total Film
pressPleasingly adult material powered by elegant, muscular performances. A strong adaptation of a slippery novel.
The New York Times
pressThe film is neither about the Holocaust nor about those Germans who grappled with its legacy: it's about making the audience feel good about a historical catastrophe that grows fainter with each new tasteful interpolation.
Roger Ebert
pressThe crucial decision in The Reader is made by a 24-year-old youth, who has information that might help a woman about to be sentenced to life in prison, but withholds it. He is ashamed to reveal his affair with this woman. By making this decision, he shifts the film's focus from the subject of German guilt about the Holocaust and turns it on the human race in general.
New Zealand Herald
pressBloodless adaptation of a good novel is almost rescued by Winslet at her best.
Los Angeles Times
pressIt is only, frankly, the strength of Winslet's performance that rises above conventional surroundings and makes The Reader the experience it should be.
Hollywood Reporter
pressAn engaging period drama. But German postwar guilt is not the most winning subject matter for the holiday season.
Empire Magazine
pressThe epitome of middle-brow 'quality' drama -- admirable within its limitations, but Bernard Schlink's Oprah Winfrey Book Club-approved book wasn't exactly literature, as this isn't exactly cinema.
Dominion Post
pressAs both an intellectual and emotional experience, this perfectly realised movie is one that will stay with me for a long time.
Variety
pressStephen Daldry's film is sensitively realized and dramatically absorbing, but comes across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact.
Total Film
pressPleasingly adult material powered by elegant, muscular performances. A strong adaptation of a slippery novel.
The New York Times
pressThe film is neither about the Holocaust nor about those Germans who grappled with its legacy: it's about making the audience feel good about a historical catastrophe that grows fainter with each new tasteful interpolation.
Roger Ebert
pressThe crucial decision in The Reader is made by a 24-year-old youth, who has information that might help a woman about to be sentenced to life in prison, but withholds it. He is ashamed to reveal his affair with this woman. By making this decision, he shifts the film's focus from the subject of German guilt about the Holocaust and turns it on the human race in general.
New Zealand Herald
pressBloodless adaptation of a good novel is almost rescued by Winslet at her best.
Los Angeles Times
pressIt is only, frankly, the strength of Winslet's performance that rises above conventional surroundings and makes The Reader the experience it should be.
Hollywood Reporter
pressAn engaging period drama. But German postwar guilt is not the most winning subject matter for the holiday season.
Empire Magazine
pressThe epitome of middle-brow 'quality' drama -- admirable within its limitations, but Bernard Schlink's Oprah Winfrey Book Club-approved book wasn't exactly literature, as this isn't exactly cinema.
Dominion Post
pressAs both an intellectual and emotional experience, this perfectly realised movie is one that will stay with me for a long time.
Daldry's direction the highlight
Stephen Daldry maintains a tight, exemplary, direction of a film which offers a lot with its script but fails to realise its potential. The key problem being that the middle of the film whets the appetite with some juicy courtroom scenes and lecture theatre postulating, which tempts the viewer to think the movie will seek to analyse that great unanswered...
It lingers for weeks
This was an excellent film withveiled theme, strong characters, fine acting and a plot which continued to mislead and provoke. No cliches here. The Law lecturer encapsulates the moral dilemma of at least one young German in the context of justice within the law. Whether his actions and inactions are worse than hers is left for the viewer to ponder.
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