The Lives of Others

Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets...

The horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany. In the early 1980s, the successful dramatist Georg Dreyman and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland, a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more...

Captain Wiesler(Ulrich Muhe) is a wiretapping expert with the Stasi (East German Secret Police) in the mid-eighties,who becomes disillusioned with his career and life in general in the former socialist republic when his latest assignment, Georg Dreyman(Sebastian Koch),a playwright with views against the totalitarian state, starts to challenge his beliefs through his overheard conversations. >>more>>

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch...