Review of The Reader (2008) by Filipeneto — 21 Mar 2021

I was impressed with this film. It is truly memorable. The story begins with young Michael, a German boy in his teens. He meets Hannah, a tram ticket collector somewhat older than himself, and is attracted to her. Later, they both start a very intense love affair, which marks the discovery of sexuality for Michael. The case lasted only one summer, but it impressively marked him: years later, already as a law student, he will find Hannah in a difficult situation, when she is accused of several heinous crimes related to Nazism.

This film has an excellent script. The story of love and physical desire between the main characters may shock some people by their age difference, but I confess that I didn't feel uncomfortable with that. Hannah's permanently grumpy and rude attitude bothered me a lot more. The way in which the film approaches various situations that are morally debatable in a neutral way does not seem negative to me, it ends up allowing each viewer to think for himself about it. I also think that the psychology of Hannah has not been fully explored. There is so much about her that the film does not reveal, so much that we wanted to know... I feel that this is intentional, due to the way it involves the character in a tasty and charming mystery. Another thing that caught my attention was the nudity. The sex scenes are sometimes quite visual, although always short... it was not something that shocked me or that I really considered a problem, but some parents should consider it before leaving teenagers to see this movie.

In addition to an attractive script, the film features good actors. Kate Winslet is the big star of the film and, really, is in excellent shape and gives us a superb interpretation. She deserved, in fact, the Oscar for Best Actress that she won with this work. The very young David Kross showed that it is a promise of European cinema with an intense performance of a shy, withdrawn and sometimes naive young man, and Ralph Fiennes did not disappoint us in the mature version of this character, offering us with an elegant and restrained work. The cast also has a good work by Bruno Ganz.

Technically, it is a discreet film that does not bring anything new, despite doing what has to be done with professionalism. Cinematography is the standard, but it makes good use of the filming locations, also knowing how to play with shadows: in fact it is a cloudy film, and the Sun, like joy, rarely appears (as in the bicycle trip that the two central characters, at the height of their happiness, do it together). The sets are good and the costumes and props were chosen in order to recreate, with caution, the periods that the film is going through (from the 50s to the 90s). The soundtrack is good, but I confess that I didn't find it memorable.