a captivating, well-made story

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 2019)

The setting is Berlin in 1995: Michael Berg, a coldly introverted lawyer who's never open with anyone, recalls his youth when as a teenager in 1950s West Germany (the aftermath of WWII still fresh in the minds of many) he crossed paths with an older woman who became his lover, but it's not until years later that he discovers she was a former SS guard at Auschwitz. As an adult, he has yet to fully come to terms with the affair and how it drastically affected the trajectory of his life. Sensual, atmospheric drama vividly captures the mood and essence of a specific time period, and packs an emotional wallop with the expectedly haunting revelations of the Holocaust, along with fully realized characters whose morally ambiguous actions shake them to their very core. Absorbing and thought-provoking, with (not surprisingly) fantastic work from Winslet, a riveting and complex performance from Fiennes, and a remarkable, praiseworthy showcase for Kross who comfortably holds his own as the young, naïve version of the same character. ***