Opening

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Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
88% The East May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31

The Reader (2008)

tomatometer

61

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 193
Fresh: 118 | Rotten: 75

Despite Kate Winslet's superb portrayal, The Reader suggests an emotionally distant, Oscar-baiting historical drama.

55

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 19

Despite Kate Winslet's superb portrayal, The Reader suggests an emotionally distant, Oscar-baiting historical drama.

audience

78

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 197,567

My Rating

Movie Info

Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes star in The Hours director Stephen Daldry's haunting period drama concerning the relationship between a 15-year-old German boy and a mysterious woman twice his age, and the way that it grows doubly complex when the man reencounters the woman years later and discovers a shocking truth about her past. Based on author Bernhard Schlink's best-selling novel of the same name, the film opens on the character of Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) in middle age -- cold, remote,

R,

Drama, Romance

David Hare

Apr 14, 2009

$34.1M

The Weinstein Co./MGM - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (194) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (121) | Rotten (76) | DVD (8)

Stephen Daldry's film is sensitively realized and dramatically absorbing, but comes across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If Winslet carries the complex psychological intrigue of the film on her shoulders, David Kross carries the heart of it on his.

April 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Its issues are infinite and moveable. It's a bold and challenging work.

January 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The trial's outcome leads us into a third act that continues to give renewed, rending meaning to the movie's title.

December 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Denver Post
Denver Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Reader is a bold and provocative film and one of the most exquisite of 2008.

December 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Relies too much on coincidence and, in an even more puzzling turn, seems to suggest that illiteracy might be a valid excuse for the worst of human behavior.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Miami Herald | Comments (2)
Miami Herald
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film's exploration of the Holocaust's fallout on subsequent generations is harrowing.

September 29, 2012 Full Review Source: The Aristocrat
The Aristocrat

A holocaust movie with a deep, twisting dive into a dense tangle of thorny moral, ethical, situational and emotional issues.

September 28, 2011 Full Review Source: American Profile
American Profile

Winslet fashions Hanna as the most banal and mundane of evildoers.

August 16, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
East Bay Express

A film that will haunt you for months with its fleeting and subtle examinations on morality, love and guilt.

March 24, 2011 Full Review Source: What Culture
What Culture

Manipulative and flawed, but interesting and occasionally moving.

October 20, 2010 Full Review Source: IGN DVD
IGN DVD

A decades-spanning drama that dives into the slippery human nature of lust, manipulation, retribution and doubt. "The Reader" is a phenomenally tragic story of people eternally connected, never knowing whether it's by true love or unshakable regret.

September 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com
Suite101.com

A British movie of a well-reviewed German novel about issues both moral and bookish.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: NPR.org
NPR.org

There's something missing from screenwriter David Hare's adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's Oprah selection, The Reader.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan
San Diego Metropolitan

ovaj film mo%u017Ee nakon obavljene misije oti%u0107i u zaslu%u017Eeni zaborav

December 14, 2009 Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews

Daldry's directorial restraint and power perfectly serves David Hare's impressive screenplay and delivers a memorable movie-going experience.

September 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com
Hollywood.com

Dismal

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

En el terreno en que la película triunfa sobre todo es en el de la reflexión, que se impone posteriormente al mero recuerdo de la anécdota que narra.

July 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total
Uruguay Total

I have no doubt that the novel makes this movie seem but a glissando of a complex series of emotional notes, but I can say that I was torn up every which way by the end of it.

May 31, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinerina

The film lingers more on Winslet's nudity than on the nature of guilt, and it offers no reason to care for the lumpen criminal or the callow lover.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix
Boston Phoenix

Audience Reviews for The Reader

A teenage boy has an illicit affair with an older woman in post war Berlin and years later finds her on trial as an Auschwitz prison guard. The Reader is a very worthy examination of German post war guilt and the resulting gulf between the following generations which no doubt resulted in the creation of the Baader-Meinhof gang. The most interesting part of the film is actually the moral debate between the law students and their tutor and it does make some interesting points about the consequences of culpability through inaction, but the structure of the film as seen through the eyes of an infatuated young boy and his older, wiser self doesn't really work. It has that kind of sterile tastefulness that "Oscar nominated" films always have and it completely lacked any emotional involvement with the characters. The performances are all strong, but I couldn't help the feeling that nearly every member of the cast were either too young or too old for their parts and it did not help that David Kross bears absolutely no resemblance to Ralph Fiennes whatsoever, which combines with a rather implausible plot development on which the entire story hinges to make the whole thing rather unconvincing. Kudos to Kate Winslet for her measured and thoughtful performance, but otherwise The Reader left me rather cold.
November 20, 2008
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

I knew nothing about The Reader before watching and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's a very complex story when it comes to the emotional turmoil and uncomfortable human issues involved but it is told so simply it is absolutely captivating. This is also credit to the actors who were deservedly praised on its release. The young David Kross was probably the most impressive performance in my mind. He was the glue of the film, his performance had to be more physical than Winslet's and Fiennes's, two brilliant actors who know that sometimes less is more and one expression can say a thousand words - something they both do brilliantly in this film. Three films down, Stephen Daldry is fast becoming a director you can rely on and I look forward to seeing what he does next.
January 16, 2012
SirPant

Super Reviewer

    1. Professor Rohl: If people like you don't learn from what happened to people like me, then what the hell is the point of anything?
    – Submitted by Kong K (2 months ago)
    1. Hanna Schmitz: It doesn't matter what I feel. It doesn't matter what I think. The dead are still dead.
    – Submitted by Marilena B (7 months ago)
    1. Hanna Schmitz: You don't have the power to upset me. You don't matter enough to upset me.
    – Submitted by Mich M (12 months ago)
    1. Michael Berg: Only one thing can make a soul complete and that thing is love.
    – Submitted by Lester M (18 months ago)
    1. Hanna Schmitz: It doesn't matter what I feel. It doesn't matter what I think. The dead are still dead.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)
    1. Michael Berg: I can't live without you. The thought of leaving you kills me. Do you love me?
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

Discussion Forum

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Latest News on The Reader

April 13, 2009:
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February 24, 2009:
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February 17, 2009:
RT Interview: Reading The Reader with Stephen Daldry
In bringing the best-selling German novel The Reader to the big screen, director Stephen Daldry...

Foreign Titles

  • Der Vorleser (DE)
  • El lector (ES)
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