81th the Academy Award-best heroine

Rating: 8/10 (17 September 2015)

Can you image the love between a 40 year old woman and a 15 year old boy? It's a bit kinky, isn't it? But it happens in this story. It is Hanna and Michael's special love story in Germany in the 1950s.
How can you describe the chemistry between Hanna and Michael? Hanna seduces Michael. She shows him her naked body and teaches Michael about sex. An interesting aspect of the plot is that Hanna always asks Michael to read books to her. Most scenes in the first half of the movie show Hanna and Michael lying in bed naked while Michael is reading.
It is dramatic that they meet each other again several years later in court. Hanna is the defendant in the trial. She is accused of being a prison guard in Nazi Germany. Michael is a legal intern in the audience. Hanna confesses all the crimes she is accused of and even crimes she did not commit just because she does not want others to know she is illiterate. This is a shame for her! Finally Hanna is sentenced to life imprisonment. Actually Michael could help Hanna to clarify the facts, but he does not. He chooses to keep silent. Maybe Michael feels guilty of his silence. He sends tapes of his voice reading books to Hanna. This gives Hanna the hope and courage to live. She learns how to read and write! She starts to write letters to Michael, but never gets a reply.
Finally they see each other after several years. Hanna is released from prison, but she is already an old lady with grey hair. Her lonely heart needs Michael's love. But this last hope failed. Hanna ends her life in despair.
This is a film full of profound, original and challenging insights. I think the movie reflects the abnormal society in Germany after the Second World War. Perhaps the "weird" love and psychology could only happen in an unhealthy society. Kate Winslet portrays a lamentable and impressive Hanna.