The Reader (2008)
The Reader (UK) Directed by Stephen Daldry. Written by David Hare. Starring Kate Winslet; Ralph Fiennes; David Kros; Lena Olin; Bruno Ganz; Alexandra Maria Lara
In this very British production, Stephen Daldry directs a film that executive producer Anthony Minghella was involved with before his death. Based on the German novel (Der Voleser) by Bernard Schlink, and a script written by David Hare (Daldry and Hare were the team responsible for The Hours), Kate Winslet plays Hanna Schmitz at three different ages - mid thirties, forties, and sixties. Although the subject matter is fairly explosive, the handling is, for the most part, understated and low key. The tone is representative of one of the film’s major themes, suppression - of emotion, of words, and in a larger sense, perhaps, the sublimation of self and one’s personal morality as it relates to the state, or a particular ideology, or authority in general. David Kross does a nice job as Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes is a fitting adult version), who Hanna calls “Kid,” the fifteen year old who falls under the spell of this beautiful, secretive, and troubled older woman. After meeting by chance, circa 1958, Hanna uses Michael - to read to her, for sex, companionship, for… solace perhaps? As most fifteen year old boys would be, Michael is infatuated with her, the first woman he has been with, and the relationship has a deep, lasting emotional impact on him, one he never quite recovers from. As the years pass we gather more information about their individual lives, and the pair are, once again, thrust into one another’s realm by larger, tragic events. The Reader is, ultimately, like two films in one - the first half is a lyrical story about a somewhat illicit love affair, while the second is a sometimes obvious procedural that delves into ethical questions that are never explicitly defined. Ambiguity in film is a double-edged sword that carries with it the possibility of images and ideas rising above the pedestrian, engaging audiences in intellectual participation, but can walk a dangerous line of potentially obscuring clarity. The Reader sometimes feels as if it is not entirely certain which questions it is most concerned with - Layers of culpability? Guilt? Personal morality? Perhaps all of the above. And perhaps this is okay. An additional difficulty with the adaptation, however, is that this is Michael’s story, but the character as an adult is so closed off we are always on the outside, and never allowed excavation into his heart and soul. Hanna is, also, the more compelling of the two characters (no doubt in part because of Winslet’s presence and strength as an actress), but we never approach peering into what makes her tick either. This same distance has the effect of making it more difficult to connect on an emotional level with either of these characters, and by extension, the film itself, although it is no less skillfully composed as a result. Shot by Chris Menges and Roger Deakins (a historic photographic co-effort if ever there was one), the film is unsurprisingly beautiful in places, although one has the feeling that the real story here was Hanna, and what led her (and so many others) to participate in (in ways large and small), or to simply turn a blind eye to, such unmitigated evil. Veterans Lena Olin plays a Jewish holocaust victim and Bruno Ganz a university professor interested in the trials of war criminals.