The Reader (2008 film)
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| Directed by | Stephen Daldry |
| Screenplay by | David Hare |
| Based on | Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink |
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| Edited by | Claire Simpson |
| Music by | Nico Muhly |
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Running time | 124 minutes[1] |
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| Budget | $32 million[3] |
| Box office | $108.9 million[3] |
The Reader is a 2008 German English language romantic drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, scripted by David Hare, adapting the 1995 German novel Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink, and starring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Bruno Ganz, and Karoline Herfurth.
The film tells the story of Michael Berg, a Berlin lawyer who, as a 15-year-old in 1958, has a brief summer love affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz. She abruptly leaves, only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a personal secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past — a secret which, if revealed, could help her at the trial.
The Reader was the last film for producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom died prior to its release. Production began in September 2007, and the film opened in limited release on 10 December, 2008. It received average to favourable reviews from critics, with praise for Winslet and Kross's performances, but with some faults in its screenplay and direction.
For her performance, Winslet won the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress.
- ^ "The Reader (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2 December 2008. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (9 December 2008). "Innocence Is Lost in Postwar Germany". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
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