What is the iRankMovies score for The Lives of Others?

Name: The Lives of Others
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Genre: drama, thriller
Released: 2006
Duration: 2 h 17 min
Rating: 8.4

The Lives of Others has an iRankMovies score of 86.7/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

The Lives of Others (2006)

Das Leben der Anderen

Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets.

Release:2006

Runtime:2h 17m

Country:Germany

Director:Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Language:German

Genre

DramaThriller

See the best drama movies →

Keywords

Berlin GermanyGovernmentcorruption EspionageGermanyBerlin WallGerman Democratic RepublicCold War

iRank87

The Lives of Others rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.4/10· 441K votes

Rotten Tomatoes92%

Metacritic89%

TMDb8.038/10· 4K votes

With 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.4/10 on IMDb and 89/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About The Lives of Others

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

Cast of The Lives of Others

Martina Gedeck
as Christa-Maria Sieland
Ulrich Mühe
as Gerd Wiesler
Sebastian Koch
as Georg Dreyman
Ulrich Tukur
as Anton Grubitz
Thomas Thieme
as Bruno Hempf
Hans-Uwe Bauer
as Paul Hauser
Volkmar Kleinert
as Albert Jerska
Matthias Brenner
as Karl Wallner
Charly Hübner
as Udo
Herbert Knaup
as Gregor Hessenstein
Bastian Trost
as Häftling 227
Marie Gruber
as Frau Meineke

The Lives of Others facts

Original title: Das Leben der Anderen
Budget: $2M
Box office: $77.7M

Our take on The Lives of Others

This 2006 Oscar winner follows a Stasi officer in 1980s East Berlin assigned to surveil a playwright — and slowly, secretly transformed by the lives he's spying on. Restrained and humane, it's a riveting drama about conscience awakening inside a machine of oppression. If its quiet tension and moral awakening gripped you, seek out political and surveillance dramas where decency flickers to life under a watchful state.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources