The Lives of Others
Short description
In East Berlin in 1984, five years before the East German state would fall, a loyal Stasi officer named Gerd Wiesler is assigned to conduct round-the-clock surveillance on a celebrated playwright, Georg Dreyman, and Dreyman's partner, the stage actress Christa-Maria Sieland. Wiesler is a committed servant of the system, and his superiors expect the operation to advance his career. What happens instead is that the private lives he listens in on, their love, their reading, their open exchange of ideas, sharpen his sense of how narrow and empty his own existence has become, and he finds it harder and harder to remain the dutiful watcher. His position grows more dangerous once a high-ranking figure in the government takes a personal interest in Christa-Maria.
The film, released in 2006, was the feature debut of writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who also wrote the screenplay; Max Wiedemann and Quirin Berg produced. Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch star alongside Ulrich Mühe as Wiesler, with Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme and Hans-Uwe Bauer in supporting roles. It was made for about 2 million dollars and took roughly 77 million dollars worldwide, a large return on a modest production.
The response was strong across the board: an 8.4 rating on IMDb from more than 440,000 votes and an 8 on TMDB, while a critics' rating of 8.7 from 162 reviews places professional assessment slightly above audience scores. Von Donnersmarck went on to direct The Tourist and Never Look Away.
What's left behind the scenes
- The cover of a nonexistent issue of the German magazine "Der Spiegel" featuring an article by Dreyman was designed by the publishers specifically for use in the film.
- The Brecht poem read by Whisler is titled “Erinnerung An Die Marie A.” (“Remembrance of Marie A.”).
- Nicolette Krebitz auditioned for the role of Krista.
- The entire print run of the German DVD edition of the film was recalled from sale due to the director’s statements in the audio commentary about the activities of politician Gregor Gysi and actress Jenny Gröhlmann as agents of the East German secret police, the “Stasi.”
- The film's modest budget of two million euros was only possible because most of the actors agreed to work for one-fifth of their usual fee.
- In his book accompanying the film's release, actor Ulrich Mühe accused his ex-wife, Jenny Grölmann, of collaborating with the secret police and spying on him. The subsequent, widely publicized lawsuit between them regarding these accusations did not rule in the actor's favor.
- Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck spent an entire month translating the script of the future film into French and sent it to composer Gabriel Yared to secure his agreement to participate in the project. For the scene where Dreyer plays the composition “Sonata for a Good Man” on the piano, he asked for music so powerful that it would make Stalin turn away from all the cruelties and atrocities he would later commit within two minutes. This key scene was the foundational idea around which the entire script was later built.
- All the surveillance and recording devices used in "The Lives of Others" were genuine inventory of the East German secret police, the Stasi, borrowed from museums and private collectors for the duration of filming.
- At the 106th minute, when one agent turns to look at another approaching the car, he looks first at the steering wheel, then out the window.
- The film was rejected by the official jury of the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, headed by Dieter Kosslick.
- In 2006, the film set a record for the most nominations (eleven) for the German Film Awards, Germany's premier film prize.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
