a quiet triumph

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 2008)

The Lives of Others is a quietly mesmerising film that makes you think. Don't expect fireworks or high drama- just a thoughtful exploration of the human spirit.
I won't dwell long on the plot- in East Germany in 1985, a Stasi agent (Ulrich Muhe) is assigned to undertake surveillance on a popular playwright (Sebastian Koch)- purely because an important official wishes to steal his girlfriend, a leading actress (Martina Gedech). As the state security machinery swings into action, each of the main characters makes decisions which have devastating effects.
The drabness of 1980s GDR is wonderfully created and sustained, and there are two exceptional central performances from Muhe and Koch. Muhe expresses so much doing very little as the loyal Stasi agent who comes to realise that as his bosses care less for the state than their careers and love lives, the artist he is spying on is willing to sacrifice all for his beliefs.
The film is not perfect- Martina Gedech overacts in the female role, and I found her role in the denouement unsatisfactory. In fact, women fare particularly badly in the film altogether. And like anything created by 'artists', the film lingers a little too long on the 'woe is me' difficulty of being an 'artist'. However, I found The Lives Of Others an excellent movie with, for me, a satisfying conclusion.