Great book - shame about the movie

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2009)

The book was impressive. The film - up to the final scenes fairly gripping and fairly true to the book. The issues of legality versus morality well brought out; the effect of hidden secrets on people's lives; the effect of a love affair - all dramatic and excellently acted and portrayed. But . . . . . . having praised the good bits, why was this not a German language film with sub-titles (as was the much better 'The Lives of Others'). The cod German-English accents are a joke. Kate Winslet is very watchable - but the amount of gratuitous nudity unnecessary. I felt she was miscast, and there was too much 'look at me' in her role. (Kristin Scott Thomas better deserves the Oscar for 'Il y'a Longtemps Que Je T'aime). The other acting was excellent. Despite these criticisms, the film pretty well held me until the final scenes - in New York and at the graveside. Mawkish, over-sentimental and totally unnecessary.