The Reader 2008
7.6 / 10
The Reader
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.
Videos & Photos
All 1 Videos & 25 Photos
cast
Full Cast & Crew
... Hanna Schmitz
... Michael Berg
... Young Michael Berg
... Rose Mather
... Professor Rohl
... Brigitte
User reviews
See All 2 Reviews06 Jun 2022 by CinemaSerf
David Kross is really effective in this tale of a young boy ("Michael") who encounters "Hanna" (Kate Winslet) as he shelters in her doorway from a rainstorm. In fairly short order, this fifteen year old boy becomes her lover; in return she gets him to read to her. He is soon infatuated and devastated when he turns up at her apartment one day to find her gone. Skip on thirty years or so and he - now Ralph Fiennes - takes over a retrospective of her story as we discover she was tried for being a particularly nasty Nazi prison camp guard and she is sentenced to life imprisonment. Throughout her internment, the two continued to correspond - he would send her tapes to aid in her learning to read... Stephen Daldry has created a delicate masterpiece here, I think. Winslet is very much on form as the story goes from a bit of sexual fantasy for the young man, through to a far darker, more horrific, second part. There is something unnervingly natural about Winslet's performance; from the playful and generous - though temperamental - lover for this naive young boy, then the odious and distinctly unrepentant, almost belligerent, woman at her trial. Despite that, somehow, Daldry manages to elicit just a grain of sympathy for her. Was she inherently bad or just inherently weak - or both? Did she crave for affection just as much as the young "Michael" did when they met? His story is one of emotional barren-ness growing up in a large family where his relationship with his father was distant and chilly and the young Kross really does shine in the role. There is plenty of sex at the beginning, but it's not gratuitous; it's exploratory - for both of them and that intimacy also adds richness to what is ultimately quite a sad tale that, though thought-provoking when it comes to the whole concept of forgiveness and reconciliation, did make me realise that so many people caught up in the Nazi machine were ill-educated and frightened. It's also worth noting the subtle role played by Bruno Ganz as his legal professor "Rohl". This is a character who proves to be a crucial conduit for the young man as he has to come to terms with what he thought she was, and what he now knows she became. The pace of this production is measured, the photography frequently intimate and lingering and the attention to the detail from the production designer also adds potency to this visceral and touching story that I really did find well worth a watch.
Release Date:
Dec 10, 2008 (Germany,United States)
Run Time:
2hr 4`
MMPA Rating:
R
Original Language:
English
Production Countries:
Germany,United States
Status:
Released
Plot Keywords:
Related Movies To
The Reader
David Kross is really effective in this tale of a young boy ("Michael") who encounters "Hanna" (Kate Winslet) as he shelters in her doorway from a rainstorm. In fairly short order, this fifteen year old boy becomes her lover; in return she gets him to read to her. He is soon infatuated and devastated when he turns up at her apartment one day to find her gone. Skip on thirty years or so and he - now Ralph Fiennes - takes over a retrospective of her story as we discover she was tried for being a particularly nasty Nazi prison camp guard and she is sentenced to life imprisonment. Throughout her internment, the two continued to correspond - he would send her tapes to aid in her learning to read... Stephen Daldry has created a delicate masterpiece here, I think. Winslet is very much on form as the story goes from a bit of sexual fantasy for the young man, through to a far darker, more horrific, second part. There is something unnervingly natural about Winslet's performance; from the playful and generous - though temperamental - lover for this naive young boy, then the odious and distinctly unrepentant, almost belligerent, woman at her trial. Despite that, somehow, Daldry manages to elicit just a grain of sympathy for her. Was she inherently bad or just inherently weak - or both? Did she crave for affection just as much as the young "Michael" did when they met? His story is one of emotional barren-ness growing up in a large family where his relationship with his father was distant and chilly and the young Kross really does shine in the role. There is plenty of sex at the beginning, but it's not gratuitous; it's exploratory - for both of them and that intimacy also adds richness to what is ultimately quite a sad tale that, though thought-provoking when it comes to the whole concept of forgiveness and reconciliation, did make me realise that so many people caught up in the Nazi machine were ill-educated and frightened. It's also worth noting the subtle role played by Bruno Ganz as his legal professor "Rohl". This is a character who proves to be a crucial conduit for the young man as he has to come to terms with what he thought she was, and what he now knows she became. The pace of this production is measured, the photography frequently intimate and lingering and the attention to the detail from the production designer also adds potency to this visceral and touching story that I really did find well worth a watch.
I didn't turn this movie off after the beautiful sex scenes only because two others were watching it with me. The mere fact that "Germans" were speaking English totally destroyed the whole "suspend disbelief" for me. This film is an awful rendition by Brits of an award-winning German book. Perhaps, only someone from the Nachgeborenen (to coin Bertolt Brecht's meaning of German post-Holocaust generations) should have made this film. The two stars are for Winslet and Kross. The rest sucks.
Cast & Crew of
The Reader
Directors & Credit Writers
... Script Supervisor
... Director
... Script Supervisor
Cast
... Hanna Schmitz
... Michael Berg
... Young Michael Berg
... Rose Mather
... Professor Rohl
... Brigitte
... Julia
... Marthe
... Dieter Spenz
... Young Ilana Mather
... Hanna's Defense Council
... Sophie
... Carla Berg
... Peter Berg
... Judge
... Prosecuting Council
... Gerhard Bade
... Thomas Berg
... Holger
... Female Judge
Produced By
Videos & Photos of
The Reader
Videos ( 1)
Photos ( 25 )
Related Movies To
The Reader
The Twisters (2024)
0 /10
A deadly patchwork of destructive cyclones is on an apocalyptic path of convergence at a populated Midwest city center. There, the twisters will merge into one mega tornado that threatens to obliterate the cities for hundreds of miles around.
Run Time: 1hr 27` . MMPA: . Release: 28 Jun 2024
Director: Michael Su
Producer: James Mahoney , Brendan Petrizzo , Paul Bales
Stars: Kayla Fields , Mark Justice , Paul Logan , Curtis Strong , Tiffany , Sofia Riba
F1 The Movie (2025)
0 /10
Racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver—while chasing one more chance at glory.
Run Time: 2hr 36` . MMPA: PG-13 . Release: 25 Jun 2025
Director: Gary Powell , Monika Petrillo , Adam Kirley
Producer: Lucy Bevan , Enrico Latella , Jeremy Kleiner
Stars: Brad Pitt , Damson Idris , Kerry Condon , Tobias Menzies , Lewis Hamilton , Javier Bardem
STRAW (2025)
0 /10
What will be her last straw? A devastatingly bad day pushes a hardworking single mother to the breaking point — and into a shocking act of desperation.
Run Time: 1hr 45` . MMPA: R . Release: 05 Jun 2025
Director: Marcus Wiley , Felix Jordan , Matt Hendren
Producer: Andy Norman , Nadia Brown , Angi Bones
Stars: Taraji P. Henson , Sherri Shepherd , Teyana Taylor , Sinbad , Rockmond Dunbar , Ashley Versher
Conjuring the Cult (2024)
0 /10
After discovering his blood-soaked daughter dead in the bathtub, David Bryson attends a self-help group to help save him from his ghostly nightmares. But when a group of mysterious cult-like women offer to help him resurrect his daughter. David's choices will not just decide his fate... but the fate of his dead daughter's SOUL.
Run Time: 1hr 33` . MMPA: . Release: 01 Oct 2024
Director: Calvin Morie McCarthy
Producer:
Stars: Neil Green , Elissa Dowling , Chynna Rae Shurts , BJ Mezek , Jason Brooks , Brad Littlefield
Breathing In (2023)
0 /10
1901, South Africa. As the Second Anglo-Boer War rages on, a wounded General seeks refuge in the small home of a woman and her young daughter. As the hurt man settles in, he begins noticing that something is off about the two women, particularly the daughter, and before long, he’ll learn the real reason for why they’ve invited him and for how they’ve survived on their own for so long.
Run Time: 1hr 45` . MMPA: . Release: 18 Oct 2023
Director: Jaco Bouwer
Producer:
Stars: Michele Burgers , Sven Ruygrok , Jamie-Lee Money , Lionel Newton
Life After Fighting (2024)
0 /10
Retired martial arts world champion Alex Faulkner has settled into a simple life, when the disappearance of two of his students leads to an unthinkable discovery close to home. Just when all hope of finding the children is lost, he locates the imprisoned girls and unsurfaces an international child trafficking operation, which draws him back into the fight of his life against those behind it.
Run Time: 2hr 6` . MMPA: . Release: 07 Jun 2024
Director: Bren Foster
Producer: Chelsea Jean Foster , Bren Foster , Navid Bahadori
Stars: Bren Foster , Cassie Howarth , Luke Ford , Annabelle Stephenson , Anthony Nassif , Arielle Jean Foster
I Believe (2019)
5.5 /10
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Run Time: 1hr 29` . MMPA: . Release: 06 Jun 2019
Director: Juergen Peretzki , Stacey Peretzki
Producer: Stacey Peretzki , Elisabeth Jereski , Ben Gelera
Stars: Rowan Smyth , Matt Lindquist , Wilford Brimley , Jeremy London , Tom Sizemore , William McNamara
Shadow Force (2025)
0 /10
Kyrah and Isaac were once the leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect their son, they go underground. With a large bounty on their heads, and the vengeful Shadow Force hot on their trail, one family's fight becomes all-out war.
Run Time: 1hr 43` . MMPA: R . Release: 01 May 2025
Director: David Pombo , Jayson Merrill , Lorette Leblanc
Producer: Carolina Cardenas Sepulveda , Stephen "Dr" Love , Juan Pablo Rincón
Stars: Mark Strong , Kerry Washington , Omar Sy , Da'Vine Joy Randolph , Method Man , Ed Quinn
The Secret Path (1999)
7.5 /10
14-year-old Jo Ann Foley lives in squalor in a rural Southern community during World War II. Abused by her bootlegging grandfather Hank, Jo Ann has, like her mother Marie, been forced into a life of prostitution. Periodically escaping her miserable existence, Jo Ann finds comfort, security, and genuine love with a poor but proud African American couple: Honey and Too Tall.
Run Time: 1hr 38` . MMPA: . Release: 02 Apr 1999
Director: Bruce Pittman , Patricia Joyes
Producer: Kimberly Rubin , Philip K. Kleinbart , Nicki Skinner
Stars: Della Reese , Ossie Davis , Crystal Bernard , Madeline Zima , Yvonne Zima , Ron White
Little Dixie (2023)
4.9 /10
Erstwhile Special Forces operative Doc Alexander is asked to broker a truce with the Mexican drug cartel in secrecy. When Oklahoma Governor Richard Jeffs celebrates the execution of a high-ranking cartel member on TV, his Chief of Staff and Doc inform him about the peace he just ended. But it’s too late, as Cuco, the cartel’s hatchet man, has set his vengeful sights on Doc’s daughter Dixie.
Run Time: 1hr 45` . MMPA: R . Release: 03 Feb 2023
Director: John Swab
Producer: Jeremy M. Rosen , Viviana Zarragoitia , Robert Ogden Barnum
Stars: Frank Grillo , Eric Dane , Annabeth Gish , Mercedes Mason , Peter Greene , Beau Knapp
Real Gangsters (2013)
7.2 /10
Real Gangsters tells the story of the Lo Giacamo family, one of the most successful crime syndicates in New York City. Run by cousins Vincent Lo Giacamo and Jack Lo Giacamo, Real Gangsters shows how these two men maintain control of their dangerous extended family and volatile business ventures by very different means.
Run Time: 1hr 28` . MMPA: . Release: 01 Jun 2013
Director: Frank D'Angelo
Producer:
Stars: Robert Loggia , John Savage , Steven Bauer , Margot Kidder , Nick Mancuso , Michael Paré
Bloomington (2010)
5.8 /10
A former child actress attends college in search of independence and ends up becoming romantically involved with a female professor. Their relationship thrives until an opportunity to return to acting forces her to make life-altering decisions.
Run Time: 1hr 23` . MMPA: . Release: 23 Jun 2010
Director: Conor Byron , Fernanda Cardoso , Rachel Rose
Producer: Nathan Dynak , Holly Fraser , Beck Engle
Stars: Allison McAtee , Sarah Stouffer , Katherine Ann McGregor , Ray Zupp , J. Blakemore , Erika Heidewald