MIT Lecture Series Committee

Rated R
124 minutes

view trailer

format: 35mm

The Reader (2008)

2008 Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress (Kate Winslet) (WIN!), Best Director (Stephen Daldry), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography

Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes star in The Hours director Stephen Daldry's haunting period romance tracing the complicated love affair between a German teen and a mysterious woman twice his age. Based on author Bernhard Schlink's best-selling novel of the same name, The Reader opens in post-World War II Germany, where ailing teenager Michael Berg has fallen ill with scarlet fever. Nursed back to health by Hanna, Michael eventually makes a full recovery and decides to thank his benevolent caretaker in person. Upon being reunited, Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and the pair quickly enters into a passionate yet clandestine affair. Later, after intense readings of The Odyssey and Huck Finn, among others, Hanna vanishes without a trace, leaving Michael heartbroken and despondent. Flash-forward nearly a decade, and Michael is a law student observing Nazi war crime trials. When Hanna wanders into the courtroom and takes a seat in the defendant's chair, her past comes into focus just as Michael uncovers the secret that will have a profound impact on both of their lives. [www.allmovie.com]

[Winslet's] fierce, unerring portrayal goes beyond acting, becoming a provocation that will keep you up nights.
      -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. Read this review.