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The Lives of Others
- 439 statements
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- 27 referencing feature instances
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The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) is an award-winning German drama film from 2006. It is the debut film of screenwriter and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.The film takes place in 1984 in state-socialist East Germany and tells the story of Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), a stoic officer of the Secret Police, Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (also known as The Stasi). His job is to find and interrogate "enemies of socialism", people with Western sympathies or just plain wrong opinions. He is ordered by friend and superior Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) to carry out a spying operation against playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), whom they suspect is not what he seems. Wiesler and his men install numerous microphones in Dreyman's apartment, and his life is filled with sitting in the attic, listening in on Dreyman and his girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck).Eventually, Wiesler starts to warm up to the couple, noticing how empty and emotionless his own life is. He learns the real reason behind the operation, a jealous minister in love with Christa-Maria trying to get rid of his rival, and is disillusioned by his colleagues' selfish motivations. After the suicide of his director friend Albert Jerska, Dreyman decides to do something about the state's rigid censorship and writes an article about the secret suicide rates of East Germany for Western publications. Wiesler has to take more and more radical measures to protect him while Grubitz becomes increasingly suspicious of him.The Lives of Others won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards and the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2006. It has been praised for its portrayal of Stasi, its employees and its victims as human beings trapped in an unforgiving dictatorship. Although the story is widely considered narmy by actual survivors of Stasi methods (no Stasi agent has ever been publicly known to regret their actions, help their victims or rebel in any form against the system as Wiesler does), the film gives a very heartfelt portrayal of life in socialist East Germany. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_10a51060 | type |
Dress-Coded for Your Convenience | |
The Lives of Others / int_10a51060 | comment |
Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Wiesler's close-fitting, angular gray jacket matches his repressed personality and bleak life. Dreyman's open shirt fronts suggest a sort of artsy virility. Grubitz's combination of military uniform (he's a company man) with slightly unkempt hair and dodgy 'stache (he's really in it for himself) encapsulates his whole persona. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_127fc252 | type |
Creator Cameo | |
The Lives of Others / int_127fc252 | comment |
Creator Cameo: The voice in the earpiece saying "The Wall has fallen" belongs to Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the writer and director. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_12dd1d4c | type |
Rape as Drama | |
The Lives of Others / int_12dd1d4c | comment |
Rape as Drama: Christa-Maria is coerced into submitting to the minister's advances, who forces himself on her in his car. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_12f667aa | type |
We Have Ways of Making You Talk | |
The Lives of Others / int_12f667aa | comment |
We Have Ways of Making You Talk: The movie opens with a lecture on this; one student says that their methods are "inhumane" (which certainly means the end of his career with the Stasi). Later Wiesler does this on Christa-Maria. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_143b5e94 | type |
Loose Floorboard Hiding Spot | |
The Lives of Others / int_143b5e94 | comment |
Loose Floorboard Hiding Spot: Where Dreyman keeps his secret typewriter. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_171ef47c | type |
Not-So-Harmless Villain | |
The Lives of Others / int_171ef47c | comment |
Not-So-Harmless Villain: In the first part of the film, Grubitz comes off generally as a buffoon-a sadist and a schemer, yes, but not particularly competent. However, when Wiesler comes to him suggesting that 24/7 surveillance of Dreyman be stopped, he immediately realizes he is hiding something, though he can't tell what it is. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_1842dcdc | type |
Staging the Eavesdrop | |
The Lives of Others / int_1842dcdc | comment |
Staging the Eavesdrop: In order to know if Dreyman's apartment is bugged, he discusses loudly with his friends about a plan to smuggle him out in detail. The plan is inadvertently foiled by Wiesler, who, in an attempt to protect Dreyman, does not report this to the border checkpoint, and when the car receives no extra searches, they assume the apartment is not bugged. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_19ebe383 | type |
Never Trust a Trailer | |
The Lives of Others / int_19ebe383 | comment |
Never Trust a Trailer: The theatrical trailer played up the suspense of living under surveillance and pressure in a socialist state. The "Stasi agent comes to care about his targets and goes to extreme lengths to protect them" angle wasn't that clear. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_1c5002bc | type |
The Stoic | |
The Lives of Others / int_1c5002bc | comment |
The Stoic: Wiesler never smiles once in the whole film. The closest he gets is at the very end when he buys Dreyman's book. "No, it's for me." | |
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The Lives of Others / int_22cf536c | type |
Chekhov's Gun | |
The Lives of Others / int_22cf536c | comment |
Chekhov's Gun: The red ink on the secret typewriter rubs off on Dreyman's fingers early in the film when he's hiding it. Towards the end, when he looks at his own records, a red smudged fingerprint on the last transcription page tells him that it was the file's author who had hidden the typewriter, just before the secret police searched Dreyman's apartment. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_294ed981 | type |
Bilingual Bonus | |
The Lives of Others / int_294ed981 | comment |
Bilingual Bonus: Grubitz's joke about Erich Honecker makes more sense for those who are fluent in German. The joke in English goes "What is the difference between Erich Honecker and a telephone? None! Hang up, try again!" The punchline "Aufhängen, neu wählen!" has a double meaning in German: to hang up the phone and dial again, or to hang the man and have a new election. A better translation for feel would perhaps be: "Hang 'em up and try again." | |
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The Lives of Others / int_2a4e8051 | type |
Sexual Karma | |
The Lives of Others / int_2a4e8051 | comment |
Sexual Karma: Wiesler and Christa-Maria have loving sex; it's in contrast when Wiesler attempts to recreate that intimacy with a hooker and it doesn't work. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_2e154495 | type |
Shower of Angst | |
The Lives of Others / int_2e154495 | comment |
Shower of Angst: Christa-Maria has one after her rape by the minister. She collapses to the bottom of the shower stall, weeping. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_3318a1cb | type |
Distant Finale | |
The Lives of Others / int_3318a1cb | comment |
Distant Finale: The story ends in early 1985 but gets a triple epilogue taking place during and after the fall of Communism. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_3371361d | type |
Fast-Forward to Reunion | |
The Lives of Others / int_3371361d | comment |
Fast-Forward to Reunion: In 1985, Wiesler was in charge of spying on Dreyman, so he was close to him during a long period (even if Dreyman was not aware of it). In the end, the mission ends and Wiesler and Dreyman's destinies part. In the epilogue, Dreyman realizes that Wiesler spied on him. Subverted, because Dreyman identifies Wiesler, stalks him, but opts not to contact him. Instead, he pays tribute to him in a book. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_34dcfc96 | type |
Kick the Dog | |
The Lives of Others / int_34dcfc96 | comment |
Kick the Dog: Grubitz's cruel trick on the underling he catches telling a joke about then-General Secretary Honecker. Hempf telling Dreyman that he "couldn't satisfy" Christa-Maria - and this is after the Wall comes down, so there's literally no reason for it other than nastiness. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_38f1a7ed | type |
Defector from Decadence | |
The Lives of Others / int_38f1a7ed | comment |
Defector from Decadence: While the Sonata of a Good Man sets up Wiesler's increasingly risky protection of Dreyman, the starting point of his rebellion is his disgust with his superior and Minister Hempf, who are using the power of the Stasi for their own personal gain, unlike the idealist Wiesler. Until that particular mission, Wiesler had no reason not to put faith into the GDR. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_3b113b7 | type |
Character Development | |
The Lives of Others / int_3b113b7 | comment |
Character Development: The movie's first scenes show Wiesler to be a ruthless, emotionless interrogator. During his surveillance assignment, Wiesler is shown slowly beginning to care about Dreyman and Christa-Maria and eventually attempts to protect them from the Stasi. This is in many ways the core story of the film and Wiesler is its unlikely hero. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_3b9b21c9 | type |
So Beautiful, It's a Curse | |
The Lives of Others / int_3b9b21c9 | comment |
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Beautiful actress Christa-Maria attracts unwanted attention and sexual advances from a powerful politician, leading eventually to her death. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_3bebfcc0 | type |
Living Lie Detector | |
The Lives of Others / int_3bebfcc0 | comment |
Living Lie Detector: Wiesler, as shown in the early interrogation scene that is also an Establishing Character Moment. He notes that innocent people will get angry when they're interrogated, and also that their stories tend to change as they reconstruct events. Guilty people get weepy and quiet, and they repeat their stories by rote because they're cover stories, not the truth. The man being interrogated eventually cracks under torture and confesses, though the audience is never shown if this confession is true or not.note The approach described by Wiesler here is absolutely ideal… for extracting a False Confession. It's very poorly suited to getting at the actual truth. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_40cc0c7e | type |
Bittersweet Ending | |
The Lives of Others / int_40cc0c7e | comment |
Bittersweet Ending: Christa-Marie is dead and Wiesler ends his career steaming envelopes in his basement for doing the right thing, but communism faces the judgment of history four years later when the Berlin Wall comes down. In the end, it doesn't erase the trauma The Stasi caused, but Wiesler takes some consolation in having been able to do the right thing when it counted and protect a good man, and Dreyman writes a book to thank him for his efforts. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_40d15d7a | type |
Spoiler Cover | |
The Lives of Others / int_40d15d7a | comment |
Spoiler Cover: A minor variation, but the re-release poster (as seen above) features the red fingerprint and HGW XX/7, a Plot Point/The Reveal at the end of the film. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_440d1d0b | type |
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! | |
The Lives of Others / int_440d1d0b | comment |
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: At first Wiesler just covers for Georg and Christa-Maria because he feels bad for them, and because he is disgusted by the selfish motives of his superiors which have compelled him to spy on them. By the end, he gives up his entire career to save Georg's life. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_4593fcda | type |
Big Brother Is Employing You | |
The Lives of Others / int_4593fcda | comment |
Big Brother Is Employing You: Weisler is an agent for the Stasi, the notorious East German secret police. He has a crisis of conscience. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_4aaffbd5 | type |
I Never Said It Was Poison | |
The Lives of Others / int_4aaffbd5 | comment |
I Never Said It Was Poison: Grubitz asks Wiesler if he knows about the suicide article, to which the latter winces upon remarking that it was published in Der Spiegel. He then tries to cover for this by saying that the writers were talking about it on the phone. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_4d1b485d | type |
Dedication | |
The Lives of Others / int_4d1b485d | comment |
Dedication: In-story example: Dreyman dedicates his latest novel "To HGW XX/7, with gratitude". | |
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The Lives of Others / int_4db582d6 | type |
Defector from Commie Land | |
The Lives of Others / int_4db582d6 | comment |
Defector from Commie Land: Dreyman and the other writers use this to test whether his apartment is bugged. Paul has an uncle in West Berlin who frequently visits. They loudly discuss a plan in detail to smuggle him out. Wiesler does not report this to the border checkpoint, and when the car receives no extra searches, they assume the apartment is not bugged. Wiesler is later surprised when he realizes that Paul is still there, as he believed it was a genuine escape attempt. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_4e7c4536 | type |
Wham Line | |
The Lives of Others / int_4e7c4536 | comment |
Wham Line: When Dreyman states he didn't think he was being watched, Hempf practically laughs at the statement, telling him to go see for himself. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_53224e46 | type |
Bookends | |
The Lives of Others / int_53224e46 | comment |
Bookends: Dreyman's play that features near the beginning and the end. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_56515a39 | type |
Artistic License – History | |
The Lives of Others / int_56515a39 | comment |
Artistic License – History: Wiesler's actions would have been close to impossible for most real Stasi agents, because the Stasi knew that the watchmen have to be watched even more closely than the civilian populace - Stasi agents worked in mutually-surveilling teams when on duty, and were watched off-duty as well. However, the film is presented more as a morality play, interested in questions about human nature and not so much in history. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_5798bfbf | type |
Reassigned to Antarctica | |
The Lives of Others / int_5798bfbf | comment |
Reassigned to Antarctica: Wiesler is demoted to Department M (steaming open letters in a dark basement) for obstructing the Dreyman operation. The reason he's reassigned rather than fired or imprisoned is that Grubitz couldn't prove anything—and even if he could, it would implicate Grubitz himself. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_5ce7dbb9 | type |
Central Theme | |
The Lives of Others / int_5ce7dbb9 | comment |
Central Theme: To Be Lawful or Good. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_60f567f1 | type |
Lonely Piano Piece | |
The Lives of Others / int_60f567f1 | comment |
Lonely Piano Piece: "Sonata For A Good Man". See Manly Tears below. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_617f0563 | type |
Heel–Face Turn | |
The Lives of Others / int_617f0563 | comment |
Heel–Face Turn: Wiesler, the remorseless Stasi officer, has a change of heart and helps save a playwright from who knows how much trouble. However, he does it only because it goes against everything he believes about national security; it's being used for personal reasons and not the good of the nation. However, when a little boy tells Wiesler that his father said the Stasi were bad men who put people in jail, Wiesler initially starts to ask the boy for his father's name, but cuts his question short halfway. This suggests that his zeal for rooting out enemies of the state has been at least somewhat shaken. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_64e975cf | type |
Manly Tears | |
The Lives of Others / int_64e975cf | comment |
Manly Tears: Wiesler crying when he hears "Sonata for a Good Man", showing the start of his Heel–Face Turn. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_6d332aea | type |
Driven to Suicide | |
The Lives of Others / int_6d332aea | comment |
Driven to Suicide: Jerska eventually commits suicide after being ultimately broken by the system and blacklisted for years. Christa-Maria jumps under a truck, unable to face her beloved after betraying him. The subject of Dreyman's article. Despite keeping records of everything, from how many shoes he buys to how many books he reads, the Statistics Office has not published the suicide rates since 1977, when East Germany was second only to Hungary in its numbers. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_723be11b | type |
Villain Has a Point | |
The Lives of Others / int_723be11b | comment |
Villain Has a Point: When in the opening Wiesler marks the student calling the interrogation inhuman, it's not just him being heartless - the kid is quite literally not cut for the job and thus making it known is part of the training and vetting process. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_7360a6b6 | type |
Noble Demon | |
The Lives of Others / int_7360a6b6 | comment |
Noble Demon: Wiesler is a Stasi agent and a ruthless interrogator, but unlike his superiors, he's not corrupted by his power and treats it as a job, done out of genuine conviction in the system in its pure, ideal form. His disgust over abusing personal power is part of what makes him ultimately side with Dreyman. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_7464705c | type |
Arc Words | |
The Lives of Others / int_7464705c | comment |
Arc Words: "Good man." | |
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The Lives of Others / int_798a9e41 | type |
Auto Erotica | |
The Lives of Others / int_798a9e41 | comment |
Auto Erotica: The minister rapes Christa-Maria in his car. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_7a53b67d | type |
Sinister Surveillance | |
The Lives of Others / int_7a53b67d | comment |
Sinister Surveillance: The all-seeing, all-knowing Stasi, watching everyone every day. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_7a53b67d | |
The Lives of Others / int_7ef70048 | type |
Big Bad Friend | |
The Lives of Others / int_7ef70048 | comment |
Big Bad Friend: Played with and ultimately subverted with Anton Grubitz. Despite initially coming across as a close friend and colleague of Wiesler, it soon becomes apparent that Grubitz views Wiesler as little more than a tool for his own advancement. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_7ef70048 | |
The Lives of Others / int_7fbb2a3 | type |
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! | |
The Lives of Others / int_7fbb2a3 | comment |
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A minor one by Wiesler. Dreyman and his friend set up a plan to determine if his apartment is bugged by setting up a false lead and seeing if the police act on it. Intending to protect Dreyman, Wiesler doesn't pass the phony tip along, so Dreyman erroneously believes that he's not under surveillance. In the end, however, it doesn't really end up mattering that much, since Wiesler himself is the one listening to the unguarded conversations and he continues to protect Dreyman's secrets. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Anton Grubitz reveals to Wiesler that in fact, the surveillance has no ideological reason but is a personal favour for Minister Hempf, Wiesler is so disgusted he first alerts Dreyman to his girlfriend's forced affair, and, with increasing awareness that this particular operation is wrong even by Stasi standards, he instead becomes Dreyman's de facto guardian angel. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_7fbb2a3 | |
The Lives of Others / int_7febc23b | type |
Establishing Character Moment | |
The Lives of Others / int_7febc23b | comment |
Establishing Character Moment: The opening scene: Wiesler questions ruthlessly a suspect, and he uses this as an example for his students at the Stasi school (where he secretly marks the name of a student who questions his methods). This establishes Wiesler as a stone-hearted, emotionless and faithful Stasi agent. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_7febc23b | |
The Lives of Others / int_81a1960f | type |
Silence Is Golden | |
The Lives of Others / int_81a1960f | comment |
Silence is Golden: Some of the most powerful scenes are the ones with very little spoken dialogue and subtle nuances of emotion. | |
The Lives of Others / int_81a1960f | featureApplicability |
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The Lives of Others / int_81a1960f | |
The Lives of Others / int_868409c | type |
Broken Pedestal | |
The Lives of Others / int_868409c | comment |
Broken Pedestal: Wiesler truly believes in surveillance of citizens to weed out malcontents, but he's shaken when the minister starts abusing their power just to get in a woman's pants. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_868409c | |
The Lives of Others / int_8bd16732 | type |
The Law of Conservation of Detail | |
The Lives of Others / int_8bd16732 | comment |
The Law of Conservation of Detail: When the main character hides his typewriter (he was writing anti-government pieces in East Germany), he notices that his fingertips were covered with the red ink he used. At the end of the movie, he finds the reports of the man who was spying on him, and notices two red fingertips next to his code name, showing him who saved his ass earlier in the movie by hiding his typewriter. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_8bd16732 | |
The Lives of Others / int_95b7c400 | type |
Faux Affably Evil | |
The Lives of Others / int_95b7c400 | comment |
Faux Affably Evil: Grubitz initially comes across as a likable albeit cynical Stasi officer who has a friendly relationship with Wiesler. However, it soon becomes apparent that he's a ruthless opportunist who thoroughly enjoys abusing his authority at others' expense and is willing to destroy anyone who stands in the way of his lust for more power. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_95b7c400 | |
The Lives of Others / int_978a82e6 | type |
Big Bad Duumvirate | |
The Lives of Others / int_978a82e6 | comment |
Big Bad Duumvirate: Minister of Culture Bruno Hempf and Wiesler's superior, Anton Grubitz, who both personify the pervasive corruption and moral apathy sustaining East Germany's authoritarian system. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_978a82e6 | |
The Lives of Others / int_9af54b9d | type |
Double Take | |
The Lives of Others / int_9af54b9d | comment |
Double Take: An ambulatory variation, when Wiesler walks past a bookstore window with copies of Sonata for a Good Man, walking back into frame to look at the display before going in to investigate. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_9af54b9d | |
The Lives of Others / int_a280f130 | type |
Take This Job and Shove It | |
The Lives of Others / int_a280f130 | comment |
Take This Job and Shove It: Upon hearing the Berlin Wall has fallen, Wiesler simply gets up from his seat steaming envelops open and walks out. | |
The Lives of Others / int_a280f130 | featureApplicability |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_a280f130 | |
The Lives of Others / int_a4c37cbe | type |
Mood Whiplash | |
The Lives of Others / int_a4c37cbe | comment |
Mood Whiplash: Wiesler listening intently in on Dreyman asking Christa not to leave is a truly touching scene, as it shows he's starting to care about them. Then Udo bursts in to take over the shift and: "Let me guess what they're doing..." [makes humping gestures] | |
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The Lives of Others / int_a4c37cbe | |
The Lives of Others / int_a6a6de9a | type |
Humble Hero | |
The Lives of Others / int_a6a6de9a | comment |
Humble Hero: One of the earliest signs the audience gets that Wiesler's not actually a bad guy is that he refuses to sit at the officers' table at the Stasi headquarters, opting to eat at one of the common tables instead. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_a6a6de9a | |
The Lives of Others / int_a6bd0685 | type |
Died in Your Arms Tonight | |
The Lives of Others / int_a6bd0685 | comment |
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Christa-Maria dies in Dreyman's. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_a6bd0685 | |
The Lives of Others / int_a70223 | type |
Karma Houdini | |
The Lives of Others / int_a70223 | comment |
Karma Houdini: After raping Christa-Maria and vindictively ruining hers and other peoples' lives, not much happens to Minister Hempf. Sure, he loses power after the fall of the Berlin Wall but when Dreyman meets him by chance a couple of years later, he is doing pretty well for himself. In the film commentary, the director points out that this is based in reality, as many of the East German bigwigs landed on their feet after the fall of the Berlin Wall. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_a70223 | |
The Lives of Others / int_a7defafd | type |
Code Name | |
The Lives of Others / int_a7defafd | comment |
Code Name: All Stasi agents had one. Wiesler is known as HGW XX/7 (Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, and his division). Dreyman is also assigned a codename, "Lazlo", though he only finds out years later when looking up his Stasi files. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_a7defafd | |
The Lives of Others / int_a8af3e53 | type |
Secret Police | |
The Lives of Others / int_a8af3e53 | comment |
Secret Police: The Stasi for East Germany. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_a8af3e53 | |
The Lives of Others / int_aa0ed8a9 | type |
Look Both Ways | |
The Lives of Others / int_aa0ed8a9 | comment |
Look Both Ways: Christa-Maria's death. | |
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1.0 | |
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The Lives of Others / int_aa0ed8a9 | |
The Lives of Others / int_ab5eea65 | type |
Dramatic Irony | |
The Lives of Others / int_ab5eea65 | comment |
Dramatic Irony: Dreyman is oblivious to the fact that he's being watched 24/7, but the audience isn't. Dreyman can't tie a tie, so he gets the single mom across the hall to tie it for him, saying "You can keep a secret, can't you?" What he doesn't know is that the neighbor saw the Stasi going into Dreyman's apartment, and Wiesler told her that her daughter would get kicked out of university if she said anything. Christa-Maria's relationship with the minister. Christa-Maria's confessions to the Stasi. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_ab5eea65 | |
The Lives of Others / int_acf33d00 | type |
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain | |
The Lives of Others / int_acf33d00 | comment |
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Anton Grubitz reveals to Wiesler that in fact, the surveillance has no ideological reason but is a personal favour for Minister Hempf, Wiesler is so disgusted he first alerts Dreyman to his girlfriend's forced affair, and, with increasing awareness that this particular operation is wrong even by Stasi standards, he instead becomes Dreyman's de facto guardian angel. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_acf33d00 | |
The Lives of Others / int_ad806839 | type |
Sexual Extortion | |
The Lives of Others / int_ad806839 | comment |
Sexual Extortion: The minister rapes Christa-Maria. She knows that he has to power to end her acting career if she does not submit. | |
The Lives of Others / int_ad806839 | featureApplicability |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_ad806839 | |
The Lives of Others / int_afc6df04 | type |
What You Are in the Dark | |
The Lives of Others / int_afc6df04 | comment |
What You Are in the Dark: Hell, this could be called What You Are In The Dark: The Motion Picture. Wiesler becomes disillusioned and upset with his mission more and more throughout the movie, and by the end of it he risks his life and intentionally destroys his own career just to save the life of a man he's never actually met in person. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_afc6df04 | |
The Lives of Others / int_b09c818 | type |
"Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word | |
The Lives of Others / int_b09c818 | comment |
"Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Dreyman says that his director friend Albert Jerska is blacklisted. The minister tells him that he should be careful about using the word "blacklist". | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_b09c818 | |
The Lives of Others / int_b6e1d40b | type |
Acceptable Breaks from Reality | |
The Lives of Others / int_b6e1d40b | comment |
Much of the rest falls under Acceptable Breaks from Reality, such as a Stasi member performing a Heel–Face Turn and being able to lie (in reality, even the people doing surveillance were under surveillance). | |
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The Lives of Others / int_b6e1d40b | |
The Lives of Others / int_b7c312ff | type |
Cacophony Cover-Up | |
The Lives of Others / int_b7c312ff | comment |
Cacophony Cover Up: One of Dreyman's friends puts on a very loud music album when he visits his apartment, under the assumption that's he's been bugged, before writing a note and telling him to meet in a park later. | |
The Lives of Others / int_b7c312ff | featureApplicability |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_b7c312ff | |
The Lives of Others / int_c660bc15 | type |
Fan Disservice | |
The Lives of Others / int_c660bc15 | comment |
Fan Disservice: Both Christa-Maria's rape by the minister (he's fat and unattractive and she clearly feels disgust and humiliation), her subsequent Shower of Angst, and the scene in which Wiesler hires a prostitute and tries in vain to make an emotional connection to her as well as a sexual one. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_c660bc15 | |
The Lives of Others / int_d001c42c | type |
Anti-Villain | |
The Lives of Others / int_d001c42c | comment |
Anti-Villain: Wiesler is a loyal Stasi agent who gets up to some bad stuff at the beginning of the movie, but the key word there is "loyal"; he genuinely believes The Stasi are good for East Germany and protect the common folk from bad people. The realization that his higher-ups don't share his loyalty to their mission begins his rise to heroism. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_d001c42c | |
The Lives of Others / int_d129e13e | type |
"Eureka!" Moment | |
The Lives of Others / int_d129e13e | comment |
"Eureka!" Moment: Near the end, Dreyman sees the red fingerprint on the final report. Watch his reaction - you can see him adding two and two and realizing that HGW was his "Guardian Angel" and saved his life right at that moment. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_d129e13e | |
The Lives of Others / int_d9cf40fa | type |
Screw This, I'm Outta Here | |
The Lives of Others / int_d9cf40fa | comment |
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Wiesler and (eventually) everyone else in the office's reaction to the news that the Berlin Wall had opened. With the Wall fallen, it would have only been a matter of time before they were told to leave their posts. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_d9cf40fa | |
The Lives of Others / int_dbed9cf7 | type |
I Was Never Here | |
The Lives of Others / int_dbed9cf7 | comment |
I Was Never Here: After the Stasi crew set up their equipment, Wiesler realizes that they've been seen by Dreyman's neighbor. He then goes to her and says that if she breathes a word of this to anyone, her daughter will lose her spot at the university. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_dbed9cf7 | |
The Lives of Others / int_dc292b90 | type |
Ear Ache | |
The Lives of Others / int_dc292b90 | comment |
Ear Ache: Dreyman gets a bottle of champagne from the Spiegel editor and the cork happens to hit one of the hidden microphones, giving Wiesler a painful dose of feedback. | |
The Lives of Others / int_dc292b90 | featureApplicability |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_dc292b90 | |
The Lives of Others / int_e71886 | type |
The Muse | |
The Lives of Others / int_e71886 | comment |
The Muse: Christa-Maria to Dreyman. | |
The Lives of Others / int_e71886 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Lives of Others / int_e71886 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_e71886 | |
The Lives of Others / int_ea6f361f | type |
You Are Number 6 | |
The Lives of Others / int_ea6f361f | comment |
You Are Number 6: During the opening sequence, Wiesler refers to the man he's interrogating as "Prisoner 2-2-7" or even just "2-2-7", with the purpose of thoroughly dehumanise the man and continues to do so when explaining the interrogation to the class. This not only works as an Establishing Character Moment for Wiesler as a stoic, detached operative, but was part of a genuine interrogation technique, allowing to twist a knife on suspects (watch the man's reaction once Wiesler brings up his children by their names). | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_ea6f361f | |
The Lives of Others / int_eb2195d9 | type |
Rousseau Was Right | |
The Lives of Others / int_eb2195d9 | comment |
Rousseau Was Right: The whole point of the movie. An ice-cold Stasi agent has a change of heart, redeems himself, and saves a Stasi target, at great personal cost. | |
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The Lives of Others / int_eb2195d9 | |
The Lives of Others / int_eb8f64a6 | type |
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished | |
The Lives of Others / int_eb8f64a6 | comment |
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Wiesler goes against the state to protect Georg and Christa and ends up demoted to opening letters in a cellar. Also, Wiesler choosing not to report the gold Mercedes smuggling attempt turns out to backfire on the people he was trying to help. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_eb8f64a6 | |
The Lives of Others / int_f165cf2c | type |
Last-Second Word Swap | |
The Lives of Others / int_f165cf2c | comment |
Wiesler gets in an elevator, and a plastic ball bounces in, followed by the little boy who owns the ball. The boy asks if Wiesler is really a Stasi member, saying "They're bad men who put men in jail, says my dad." To which Wiesler responds, "What's the name of your... ball?" | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_f165cf2c | |
The Lives of Others / int_f511ea9b | type |
Product Placement | |
The Lives of Others / int_f511ea9b | comment |
Product Placement: Der Spiegel (The Mirror), one of Germany's most prominent news magazines, is a major plot point. They even created the cover of the suicide issue used in the film, ensuring it met with their art standards. | |
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1.0 | |
The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_f511ea9b | |
The Lives of Others / int_f612d2d | type |
Ignored Vital News Reports | |
The Lives of Others / int_f612d2d | comment |
Ignored Vital News Reports: Towards the end of the film, Grubitz tosses a newspaper into the backseat of his car. The headline announces that Mikhail Gorbachev has become the Premier of the USSR. | |
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1.0 | |
The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_f612d2d | |
The Lives of Others / int_f64a9cf7 | type |
Earn Your Happy Ending | |
The Lives of Others / int_f64a9cf7 | comment |
Earn Your Happy Ending: Wiesler ends his Stasi career steaming envelopes open in a basement, Christa-Maria kills herself, and the DDR and Stasi continue to be a menace. But in the end, Wiesler saved a good man's life, got some gratitude for it eventually, and communism eventually met the judgment of history four years and seven months later. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_f64a9cf7 | |
The Lives of Others / int_fa779d17 | type |
Ascetic Aesthetic | |
The Lives of Others / int_fa779d17 | comment |
Ascetic Aesthetic: The Stasi headquarters and Wiesler's Lonely Bachelor Pad. Clean, modern, minimalist, efficient, soulless. Contrast with the Bohemian clutter of Dreyman's nineteenth-century flat: books, textiles, parquet, woodwork, warm lighting. | |
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The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_fa779d17 | |
The Lives of Others / int_fd4f8299 | type |
Well-Intentioned Extremist | |
The Lives of Others / int_fd4f8299 | comment |
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Wiesler honestly believes he's doing a noble job, keeping his country secure from dissidents. He is actually fairly naive and doesn't believe anything's wrong with the "harsh but fair" system - until Hempf's actions leaves him disillusioned. Basically, the film is about a good man with an evil job. | |
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1.0 | |
The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_fd4f8299 | |
The Lives of Others / int_fe0330fb | type |
Brick Joke | |
The Lives of Others / int_fe0330fb | comment |
Brick Joke: Early on in the film, a young Stasi officer makes a politically dangerous joke in front of his superiors. After Wiesler is Reassigned to Antarctica in the letter-opening room, the same character informs him the wall has come down. | |
The Lives of Others / int_fe0330fb | featureApplicability |
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1.0 | |
The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_fe0330fb | |
The Lives of Others / int_fe64d5a1 | type |
Evil Is Petty | |
The Lives of Others / int_fe64d5a1 | comment |
Evil Is Petty: Hempf's entire reason for the Stasi surveillance operation is that he covets Dreyman's girlfriend. Grubitz sees it as a means of personal advancement, but Wiesler is disgusted that government resources are being used for such blatant corruption. | |
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1.0 | |
The Lives of Others | hasFeature |
The Lives of Others / int_fe64d5a1 | |
The Lives of Others / int_ff7f34c5 | type |
Pet the Dog | |
The Lives of Others / int_ff7f34c5 | comment |
Pet the Dog: Wiesler gets in an elevator, and a plastic ball bounces in, followed by the little boy who owns the ball. The boy asks if Wiesler is really a Stasi member, saying "They're bad men who put men in jail, says my dad." To which Wiesler responds, "What's the name of your... ball?" Dreyman opts not to introduce himself to a humbled Wiesler, who's now a postman, giving the latter his dignity. He dedicates his next book to Wiesler instead. | |
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Shown Their Work | |
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Shown Their Work: All the spying equipment is authentic, brought in from museums. Even the machine they use to steam envelopes open. The last scenes with Dreyman looking up his old surveillance files. Much of the rest falls under Acceptable Breaks from Reality, such as a Stasi member performing a Heel–Face Turn and being able to lie (in reality, even the people doing surveillance were under surveillance). | |
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The Lives of Others |
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