FilmJudge - The Reader

REVIEW

The Reader
2009
Certificate: 15 | Runtime: 124 | Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Kate Winslet, David Kross, Ralph Fiennes

In 1950s Berlin, 15-year-old Michael Berg (Kross) has a chance encounter with middle-aged Hanna Schmitz (Winslet), and after a flirtatious period the two begin a sexual relationship. However, Hanna also enjoys it when Michael reads to her; a passion he is happy to indulge in. But many years later, after their relationship has ended, they have another encounter. Michael is now a law student, and discovers Hanna is a defendant in war crimes trial he attends. He learns she was in the SS is may have been personally responsible for the deaths of scores of women and children.

There have been some very silly things written - by apparently very serious people - about The Reader. Comments ranging from 'not another Holocaust film' to 'I don't want to feel sorry for a Nazi' have infected the press with an oddly enthusiastic glee. And, to be honest, I can't work out why. The film isn't groundbreaking, but it's a thoughtful little piece with some really good acting and handsome production values. It's exactly the sort of film critics usually like, and I can only suggest that some of those who have criticised it for making them feel uncomfortable should examine their own sensibilities instead of passing comment on the piece.

I type this after Kate Winslet won a Golden Globe for her performance here, and the award was much deserved. For strategic reasons she won for this film in the Supporting Actress category, but The Reader is almost entirely hers. The 'sympathy for a Nazi' argument really doesn't hold water because Winslet is very careful to make Hanna a difficult figure to understand. Her circumstances - a rather miserable life and a personal secret which I won't reveal here but which you've probably nonetheless read about - are sad, but there's a frigidity to Hanna that's difficult to see past. Winslet shows us glimmers of an almost childish simplicity, and there's always a sense of mystery about the character that makes her interesting rather than conventionally sympathetic. And I should say that the aforementioned secret actually throws into doubt whether she could have been responsible for the charges put to her. Surely this is precisely the sort of situation where you're supposed to feel sorry for a character and not feel guilty for doing so, but I digress.

For his part, Berg is solid. There's little to Michael as a youth, but I rather suspect that is the point. It makes his surprise at her secret more believable if we always think of him as a little naive. Fiennes is also very good. He's only in a few scenes, and largely in the final third of the film, but he makes a really strong impression playing the older Michael. You can sort of see the conflict within him as he, years later, weighs up the Hanna he knows against the Hanna the court told him existed.

Cosmetically, the film is good. Chris Menges's cinematography is slightly washed of colour, which creates the right atmosphere for the film and goes well with the plain but functional sets. Nico Muhly's musical score is effective as well; there's a Philip Glass-ian element to it that suits this sort of intimate character mystery. And Daldry is a dab hand at this sort of thing. So with all these things going for it, I do confess I am surprised at the backlash it has received. Many don't like more respectable things about it - they thought it slow, uninvolving and things of that ilk. But you're the sort of person who gets offended by having your perceptions challenged by a film, it probably isn't one for you. I also suggest you give up going outside, or doing anything remotely interesting for that matter.

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