The Reader (2008)

The Reader rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb7.6/10· 271K votes

Rotten Tomatoes63%

Metacritic58%

TMDb7.467/10· 3K votes

With 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 7.6/10 on IMDb and 58/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been mixed.

About The Reader

The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.

Cast of The Reader

• 

  Ralph Fiennes

  as Michael Berg

• 

  Kate Winslet

  as Hanna Schmitz

• 

  David Kross

  as Young Michael Berg

• 

  Lena Olin

  as Rose Mather

• 

  Bruno Ganz

  as Professor Rohl

• 

  Jeanette Hain

  as Brigitte

• 

  Hannah Herzsprung

  as Julia

• 

  Karoline Herfurth

  as Marthe

• 

  Volker Bruch

  as Dieter Spenz

• 

  Alexandra Maria Lara

  as Young Ilana Mather

• 

  Fabian Busch

  as Hanna's Defense Council

• 

  Vijessna Ferkic

  as Sophie

The Reader facts

Budget

$32M

Box office

$108.9M

Our take on The Reader

Stephen Daldry's 2008 drama traces Michael Berg, a German lawyer looking back on a formative affair he had as a teenager in the late 1950s with Hanna, an older woman who abruptly vanished from his life. Years later she resurfaces in a courtroom as a defendant in a war-crimes trial tied to her service as a concentration-camp guard late in the war. Watching the proceedings, Michael alone senses that Hanna is illiterate and may be guarding that secret even at the cost of her freedom. Intimate and morally uneasy, it suits viewers drawn to reflective dramas about guilt, complicity, shame and the private truths people will sacrifice everything to hide.