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—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
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The Lives of Others (2006)

tomatometer

93

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 152
Fresh: 142 | Rotten: 10

Unlike more traditional spy films, The Lives of Others doesn't sacrifice character for cloak and dagger chases, and the performances (notably that by the late Ulrich Muhe) stay with you.

96

Average Rating: 8.4/10
Critic Reviews: 49
Fresh: 47 | Rotten: 2

Unlike more traditional spy films, The Lives of Others doesn't sacrifice character for cloak and dagger chases, and the performances (notably that by the late Ulrich Muhe) stay with you.

audience

95

liked it
Average Rating: 4.4/5
User Ratings: 113,434

My Rating

Movie Info

A man who has devoted his life to ferreting out "dangerous" characters is thrown into a quandary when he investigates a man who poses no threat in this drama, the first feature from German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It's 1984, and Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an agent of the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. Weisler carefully and dispassionately investigates people who might be deemed some sort of threat to the state. Shortly after Weisler's former classmate, Lt. Col.

Aug 21, 2007

$11.2M

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All Critics (157) | Top Critics (51) | Fresh (142) | Rotten (10) | DVD (16)

The Lives of Others is a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (2)
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film is a melodrama in a minor key, quietly affecting, quietly chilling, quietly quiet. It captures the drab architecture of totalitarianism, the soul-dead buildings of a soul-dead state.

March 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
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Its suspense builds on the fragile and nuanced business of emotional rebirth.

March 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
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A political thriller that's consistently as inventive as it is creepy.

March 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
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Few would deny that The Lives of Others is true to its self, and in its depiction of human nature -- and human spirit.

March 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Poised between Kafka and Tom Cruise, The Lives of Others is the sort of movie that constantly engages you. You never know what's going to happen next, and it's all done with a precision and intelligence that's rare in movies these days.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The scope is especially impressive given that the movie is about a society obsessively focused on the tiniest of details.

August 5, 2011 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm
LarsenOnFilm

Activism proves tough on people who've thrived at their political patrons' blessings, and one character cruelly chooses a path of least resistance when the chips are down. A cataclysmic conclusion depicts political clamps on expression and emotion.

September 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com
Suite101.com

If the filmmaker commits a crime, it's in pushing the [Stasi] character's rehabilitation slightly too far--about as much as the weight of a teardrop.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

A truly unforgettable movie.

June 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Metromix.com
Metromix.com

Although Henckel von Donnersmarck has a number of genuinely good ideas ... the film is marred by redundancy, indecision and clumsiness.

June 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | Comments (8)
Paste Magazine

Not since Francis Ford Coppola's masterful The Conversation has there been a thriller quite like this.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com
BrandonFibbs.com

The best foreign language film of the year is also one of the year's best overall.

January 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope
Laramie Movie Scope

A multi-layered and surprisingly touching dramatic thriller.

December 30, 2007 Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com
EricDSnider.com

... The Lives of Others illustrates, with only a dash of sentimentality, the truth that integrity leads to vulnerability and sacrifice.

September 12, 2007
Looking Closer

The Lives Of Others' obedient, obsessed spy in an exceedingly odd sense may have much more of a handle on the lives of others than, say, the filmmaker, who himself was around six years old at that time period of the former GDR.

September 11, 2007 Full Review | Comments (11)
WBAI Web Radio

The Lives of Others aims to flatter its audience - a quality typical for a film whose emotional posturing is only skin deep.

August 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Projection Booth | Comment (1)
Projection Booth

Actually one of the most optimistic stories I've watched in a long while.

August 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies
Window to the Movies

A beautifully mounted movie that's difficult to shake.

August 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

a mesmerizing, heartbreaking thriller

July 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette
Kalamazoo Gazette

How surprising that a new German film would teach Americans about human faith at a time when acclaimed movies like Borat lack faith.

July 11, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Press | Comments (3)
New York Press

a finely nuanced screenplay into whose naturalistic dialogue an intricate array of suggestive symbols and recurring motifs are subtly folded.

July 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film
Eye for Film

Una notable mirada a la vida bajo un régimen opresivo, en este caso la RDA de 1984. Sorprendente debut del director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, con excelente elenco y calidad narrativa.

May 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total
Uruguay Total

Von Donnersmarck moves certain sequences too slowly, but matches his tightest suspense with human intrigue.

April 25, 2007 Full Review

You know within minutes of watching The Lives of Others ... that you are in confident, authoritative hands.

April 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]
Observer [UK]

Audience Reviews for The Lives of Others

Reminded me of Terry Gilliams's Brazil but with none of the the fantasy elements. And a lot more somber. Somberer. (?)

Any one else get that?

Also, one of the best last lines ever.
April 7, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

Before going Hollywood with The Tourist, writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck delivered the goods with this stellar Cold War drama.

The time is 1984. The place is East Germany. Our protagonist is a member of the Stasi, or State Secret Police. His job is to constantly monitor the activities of whoever he is told to. And he does, being the consummate professional that he is. Things start to get iffy though when he is assigned to monitor a playright who has a reputation for being a staunch pro-Communist...especially when the revelations he uncovers have major consequences for lots of people, including himself.

I really loved this one. It's weird for me to say that too, because surveillance and bugging, and all of that creeps me out. The world of paranoia and secrecy is quite fascinating though, especially here since this is a period piece rooted in interesting history.

The film is subtle, quiet, intelligent, and really rewarding for the patient. It's also gorgeous in its look, mood, tone, atmosphere, and art direction/set design. It is a thriller, bbut not the slam bang wall -to-wall action type, and that's what I liked about it. Yeah, there's some development lacking with some of the characters, but overall this is still a marvelous piece of work with some tremendous acting, good ideas, and great subject matter.

Definitely give this one a look. It's not going to be for all tastes, but if you enjoyed something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, then you'll probably enjoy this one as well.
January 11, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

    1. Bookseller: Want it gift-wrapped?
    2. Captain Gerd Wiesler: No, it's for me.
    – Submitted by Briain d (2 months ago)
    1. Georg Dreyman: The state office for statistics on Hans-Beimler street counts everything; knows everything: how many pairs of shoes I buy a year: 2.3, how many books I read a year: 3.2 and how many students graduate with perfect marks: 6,347. But there's one statistic that isn't collected there, perhaps because such numbers cause even paper-pushers pain: and that is the suicide rate.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)
    1. Captain Gerd Wiesler: An innocent prisoner will become more angry by the hour due to the injustice suffered. He will shout and rage. A guilty prisoner becomes more calm and quiet. Or he cries. He knows he's there for a reason. The best way to establish guilt or innocence is non-stop interrogation.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Das Leben der Anderen (DE)
  • The Lives Of Others (UK)
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