Beautifully photographed, contemplative movie with understated performances.

Rating: 9/10 (6 July 2009)

It's not really difficult to be complimentary about this movie. Wonderful direction, quietly engrossing, great performances from all. Nice to see Bruno Ganz turning up too. There is something amazing about a film which successfully spreads itself across decades of people's lives, and this film is certainly successful in that respect. Really makes you think about the roles we play as humans. Are they really of our own making? How much power do we truly have in terms of being caught up something much, much bigger than one can even imagine? Probably the best thing that Ralph Fiennes has done in a while; Kate Winslet's star is obviously very much in the ascendancy these days, and I hope that we will be seeing a lot more of David Kross - a fine young actor.