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Ulrich Muhe busy falling for the girlfriend of the man he is spying on |
Sinister Cold War love story in East German spy society
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
Directed by Florian Donnermarck
Certificate 15
STASI was the dreaded name of the East German State Security regime in the sixties Cold War, a word that spread fear throughout the repressed populace like a chilling forerunner to Big Brother in 1984.
We get an idea of their methods in the film’s opening shots as a ruthless inquisitor (Ulrich Muhe) reduces a prisoner to jelly with his relentless interrogation.
Later, he proudly shows off the video to a class of enthusiastic young Stasi graduates at police college, and points out: “They’re innocent if they get angry. If they’re guilty they stay calm, and we know they’re lying.”
Ordered by his scheming boss (Ulrich Tukur) to mount a 24-hour surveillance on a liberal writer (Sebastian Koch), he bugs the suspect’s flat and sets up shop in the attic, monitoring every movement in his unwitting quarry’s life.
But things take an unexpected turn when the hidden spy upstairs falls for the writer’s glamorous girlfriend (Martina Gedeck), who happens to be the star of the suspect’s latest play. The tension is stretched as taut as piano wire as the sinister watcher reveals his own growing obsession with the actress, falsifying daily reports to save her lover from arrest and execution.
A truly remarkable first film from German director Florian Donnermarck that grips you like a vice from the first frame and never lets go.
With superb performances all round, here is a must-see for discerning audiences.
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