Das Leben der Anderen
| The Lives of Others | |
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Original German-language poster
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| Directed by | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
| Produced by | Max Wiedemann Quirin Berg |
| Written by | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
| Starring |
Ulrich Mühe Martina Gedeck Sebastian Koch Ulrich Tukur |
| Music by |
Gabriel Yared Stéphane Moucha |
| Cinematography | Hagen Bogdanski |
| Edited by | Patricia Rommel |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista International (Germany) |
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Release date
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Running time
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137 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | $2 million |
| Box office | $77.3 million |
The Lives of Others (German: Das Leben der Anderen) is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, about the monitoring of East Berlin residents by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police. It stars Ulrich Mühe (who died within a year of the film's release) as Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler, Ulrich Tukur as his superior Anton Grubitz, Sebastian Koch as the playwright Georg Dreyman, and Martina Gedeck as Dreyman's lover, a prominent actress named Christa-Maria Sieland.
The film was released in Germany on 23 March 2006. At the same time, the screenplay was published by Suhrkamp Verlag. The Lives of Others won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards—including those for best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor—after setting a new record with 11 nominations. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Golden Globe Awards. The Lives of Others cost US$2 million and grossed more than US$77 million worldwide as of November 2007[update].
Released 17 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall marking the end of the East German socialist state, it was the first notable drama film about the subject after a series of comedies such as Goodbye, Lenin! and Sonnenallee. This approach was widely applauded in Germany even as some criticized the humanization of Wiesler's character. Many former East Germans were stunned by the factual accuracy of the film's set and atmosphere, accurately portraying a state which merged with West Germany and ceased to exist 16 years prior to the release. The film's authenticity was considered notable, given that the director grew up outside of East Germany and was only sixteen when the Berlin Wall fell.
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