Tough read...

Rating: 4/10 (7 April 2009)

I wasn't convinced by this so-serious drama which mixes prurience, rites of passage and a study in Nazi-war-crime guilt into an unconvincing whole, unleavened by so-serious acting, praised beyond its station in my opinion.
The prurience comes from the first half hour when ailing young German schoolboy, Michael benefits from the kindness (and then some) of a middle-aged female Hanna Schmitz who lives alone in a city centre flat. After his "Mrs Robinson" moment, it's no time at all before they're bath-deep in a physical relationship, during which Kate Winslet barely keeps her clothes on and reveals a predilection for having literature read aloud to her before the sexual act.
The rites of passage element then takes over as sensitive Michael finds pretty young female classmates and students chasing him, causing him to sever his connection with Hanna, although we're at least spared an overblown separation scene (I don't doubt there'll be an excised scene in the DVD extras).
The film then changes tack again as Michael, years later and now a legal student who on a very coincidental "work-experience" visit to a courtroom trial, is astounded to see his old paramour in the dock as the accused ringleader of a group of female ex-Nazi concentration camp guards accused of complicity in the preventable deaths of Jewish prisoners on their watch. Hanna and her Nazi-sisters, you could say!
The film concludes by jumping forward yet again as the now adult Michael who we learn has never properly gotten over his feelings for the by now life-imprisoned Hanna, tentatively re-connects with her although it's never in doubt that we're going to get a downbeat ending here.
My criticisms are that the film failed to hang together in a narrative sense relying on too many fantastic coincidences to keep the plot moving forward. It's inexplicable for example that a guilt-riddled Hanna, seemingly living a hermit-like existence on her own, could seduce and enter into a physical relationship with a 15 year old boy. I've already commented on the coincidence that brings the two together for the ending and also found fault in the too obvious symbolism of Hanna using her adored books as a stepladder to her own destruction as she nears the date of her release.
The acting is deadly serious but I would hesitate to praise the players. Winslet gets to look pained and strained pretty much all the way through and shows her artifice too easily. It seems that Ralph Feinnes has no range beyond haunted and tortured while the young lad playing Michael pretty much exhibits zero charisma. The cinematic rendering of late 50's Berlin does seem realistic, but I was further put off by the jump-around time-frame employed and the overuse of background music in almost, or so it seemed, every scene.
Finally, I will comment on the recent vogue in making movies almost apologetic to Nazi collaborators and employees (c.f. "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"). Here I felt manipulated to sympathise with another "only obeying orders" retired Nazi guard who incidentally shows not one scintilla of remorse for her actions and who then casually seduces an underage teenager into the bargain. The director may argue that this wasn't the sole aim of the movie, but for me this viewpoint too greatly distorted my viewing pleasure and while I'm obviously in the minority going by the average score of this movie, not to mention the Academy's recognition, have to state that I found the whole a cold, vaguely offensive and certainly overrated piece of cinema.