The Lives of Others (German: Das Leben der Anderen, pronounced [das ˈleːbn deːɐ̯ ˈʔandəʁən]) is a 2006 German drama film written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. This was his first movie as a director. The story follows secret listening by the Stasi, the secret police of East Germany (called the German Democratic Republic), as they monitor East Berlin residents. The film features Ulrich Mühe as Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler, Ulrich Tukur as his superior Anton Grubitz, Sebastian Koch as playwright Georg Dreyman, and Martina Gedeck as Dreyman’s lover, Christa-Maria Sieland, a famous actress.

The film was released in Germany by Buena Vista International on March 23, 2006, and in North America by Sony Pictures Classics on February 7, 2007. At the same time, the screenplay was published by Suhrkamp Verlag.

The Lives of Others won the 2007 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Before this, it received seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards, including for best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor. It had 11 nominations, setting a new record. The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and the European Film Award for Best Film. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film cost $2 million to make and earned over $77 million worldwide.

Released 17 years after the Berlin Wall fell, which marked the end of East Germany, The Lives of Others was the first major drama about this topic after earlier comedies like Good Bye, Lenin! and Sonnenallee. Many people in Germany praised the film for its realistic tone, even though some critics said the character of Gerd Wiesler was shown in an unrealistic or overly kind way. The film was considered authentic because the director was born outside East Germany and was 16 when the Berlin Wall fell.

Plot

In 1984, in East Germany (GDR), Stasi Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, known by the code name HGW XX/7, is ordered by his friend and superior, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz, to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman. Dreyman is well-known for his pro-communist views and international fame, which had prevented the government from monitoring him directly. Dreyman's appearance as a model East German puzzles Wiesler, as the playwright has no known bad habits or history of disloyalty. At the request of Minister of Culture Bruno Hempf, Wiesler and his team install listening devices in Dreyman's apartment and report on his activities. Wiesler is surprised to learn that Hempf is watching Dreyman not because of any suspicion of disloyalty, but because of his personal interest in Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland. After Wiesler intervenes, Dreyman discovers Hempf's improper relationship with Sieland. He urges her not to meet Hempf again and to stay true to herself. She later returns to Dreyman's apartment without seeing Hempf.

Dreyman's friend Albert Jerska, a blacklisted theatrical director, gives him sheet music for Sonate vom Guten Menschen (Sonata about Good People). Soon after, Jerska dies by suicide. Dreyman notices that East Germany has not published suicide rates since 1977 and decides to write an article about this for Western media. To test if his apartment is bugged, Dreyman and his friends act as if they are planning to leave the country. Wiesler, who is sympathetic, does not report this, and they believe they are safe. Because all East German typewriters are registered, an editor from the West German newsweekly Der Spiegel sends Dreyman a Groma Büromaschinen Kolibri, a flat typewriter, which he hides under a floorboard. This typewriter only has a red ribbon, which stains his fingers.

Dreyman publishes an anonymous article in Der Spiegel accusing the East German government of hiding the country's high suicide rates. The article angers East German officials, but the Stasi cannot connect it to a registered typewriter. After being rejected by Sieland, Hempf orders Grubitz to arrest her. Sieland is blackmailed into revealing Dreyman's authorship of the article, though the Stasi does not find the typewriter. Grubitz, who suspects Wiesler, has him conduct the follow-up interrogation of Sieland. Wiesler convinces Sieland to reveal the typewriter's location.

When the Stasi return to Dreyman's apartment, Sieland realizes that Dreyman will know she betrayed him and runs into the street in front of a moving truck. Dreyman runs after her, and she dies in his arms. Grubitz finds nothing under the floorboard and ends the investigation with a brief apology to Dreyman. Grubitz then tells Wiesler that his career with the Stasi is over, and he will now work in Department M, a low-level position for disgraced agents. On the same day, Mikhail Gorbachev is elected leader of the Soviet Union.

Two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hempf and Dreyman meet at a performance of Dreyman's play, reflecting on life before and after German reunification. Dreyman asks why he was never monitored by the Stasi, and Hempf replies, "We knew everything." Dreyman later finds abandoned listening devices in his apartment and removes them from the walls.

Dreyman reviews his Stasi files at the Stasi Records Agency, learning that Sieland was released before the second search and could not have removed the typewriter. He is confused by other contradictions until he sees a red fingerprint in the final report. This leads him to realize that the officer in charge of his surveillance—Stasi officer HGW XX/7—had removed the typewriter and hidden his activities, including the authorship of the suicide article. He tracks down Wiesler, who now works as a mailman, but decides not to speak with him.

Two years later, Wiesler passes a bookstore window displaying a promotion for Dreyman's new novel, Sonate vom Guten Menschen (Sonata about a Good Person). He buys a copy and opens it, discovering it is dedicated "To HGW XX/7, in gratitude." When asked if he wants the book gift-wrapped, he replies, "No, it's for me."

Production

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s parents were from East Germany. Originally, the von Donnersmarck family was from Silesia, a region that became part of Poland after World War II. As a child, he visited East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell and noticed the fear people felt because of the government’s control.

The idea for the film came to him while working on a project for a film class. He was listening to music and remembered a quote by Maxim Gorky, who said that Lenin, a leader of the Soviet Union, loved Beethoven’s Appassionata. Gorky described a conversation with Lenin about this. Donnersmarck later told a reporter that he imagined a person sitting in a dark room, wearing headphones, listening to music that he thought was from the government’s enemies. In reality, the music was beautiful and touched him. This idea led him to write the film’s plan in just a few hours. The screenplay was written during a visit to his uncle’s monastery, Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

The film’s opening scene is set in Hohenschönhausen prison, now a memorial honoring victims of the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police. However, filming there was not allowed because Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial, refused permission. Knabe did not want the film to portray a Stasi officer as a hero. Donnersmarck explained that Schindler’s List, a film about saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust, showed a similar situation. Knabe responded that the difference was that Schindler’s List had a real hero, but the film’s character, Wiesler, did not.

Donnersmarck worked with cinematographer Hagen Bogdanski to create the film. Bogdanski described the film’s use of gray colors as inspired by the dark, quiet streets of East Berlin during that time. He said that life in East Berlin often happened indoors, away from public view.

Reception

The film was widely praised by critics. According to the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 92% rating, based on 149 positive reviews out of 163 total, with an average score of 8.31 out of 10. The site’s summary states: "Unlike many spy films, The Lives of Others focuses on characters rather than action scenes, and the acting—especially by the late Ulrich Muhe—leaves a strong impression." The film also received an 89 out of 100 score on Metacritic, based on the opinions of 39 critics.

A review in Daily Variety by Derek Elley described the film as "a superbly cast drama" that "handles the many emotional and dramatic elements of the story with skill and clarity." Time magazine’s Richard Corliss included the film in his list of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at number 2 and calling it "a poignant, unsettling thriller."

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a perfect score of 4 out of 4, calling it "a powerful but quiet film" that explores "hidden thoughts and secret desires." A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that the film is "well-plotted" and noted that the suspense comes not only from the story’s structure but also from the idea that "even in an oppressive society, individuals have free will." Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan agreed, saying the film’s tension comes from its "meticulously plotted" story, which places characters in "high-stakes predicaments" where they risk "their talent, their very lives, even their souls." The film also shows that "moral and political dilemmas can be the most intense dramatic moments."

Conservative commentators in the United States praised the film and interpreted its themes of authoritarianism as aligning with their views. John Podhoretz called it "one of the greatest movies ever made" and "the best film of this decade." William F. Buckley, Jr. wrote in his column that after watching the film, he told a companion, "I think that is the best movie I ever saw." John J. Miller of National Review Online ranked it number one in his list of "The Best Conservative Movies" of the last 25 years.

Many critics highlighted the film’s use of subtle details as a strength. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote that the film is "built on layers of emotional texture." Josh Rosenblatt of the Austin Chronicle called it "a triumph of muted grandeur." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly noted that the film’s tensest moments often involve "minimal action" but still conveys "everything the director wants us to know about choice, fear, doubt, cowardice, and heroism." An article in First Things discussed the film’s philosophical themes, including the transformation of one of its characters. Wolf Biermann, an East German dissident, wrote in Die Welt that the film’s "political tone is authentic" and that its "seductive mass of details" reminded him of his own experiences during the 1960s and 1970s.

Anna Funder, the author of Stasiland, praised the film in The Guardian as "superb" but noted that it does not accurately reflect real-life events. She explained that Stasi operatives could not hide information from their superiors because they were constantly monitored and worked in teams.

In a 2016 BBC poll, critics ranked the film as the 32nd greatest movie since 2000. In 2021, members of the Writers Guild of America voted its screenplay the 52nd best of the 21st century so far. In 2025, The New York Times listed the film as number 48 on its "100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and included it in its "Readers' Choice" edition, where it finished at number 107.

German author Christoph Hein stated that the film is loosely based on his life. He recalled that the director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, interviewed him in 2002 and mentioned his name in the film’s opening credits. Hein later asked the director to remove his name because the film’s events were "overly dramatic" and did not match his real-life experiences. He said the film is not about the 1980s in East Germany but is instead "a scary tale set in a fantasy world, like Tolkien’s Middle-earth."

The film and its creators have won many awards, including several prestigious honors. It also appeared on many critics’ lists of the top 10 films of 2007.

According to The Europe List, a major survey of European culture, the top three films in European culture are:
1. Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni
2. The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
3. Amélie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

The film was ranked number one in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Proposed remake

In February 2007, Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella made an agreement with The Weinstein Company to create and oversee an English-language version of The Lives of Others. Minghella died in March 2008, and Pollack died less than three months later.

Influence

In September 2014, 43 members of Israel’s secret military group, Unit 8200, wrote a letter to the country’s prime minister and army leader. They refused to continue their service and said Israel did not tell the difference between Palestinians who were involved in violence and those who were not. They also claimed that information collected during their work harmed innocent people. One person mentioned watching the film The Lives of Others as a moment that changed their thinking.

The film The Lives of Others has been mentioned in political protests after 2013, when details about mass spying were shared. Daniel Ellsberg, in an interview with Brad Friedman on KPFK/Pacifica Radio, which was later posted on salon.com, said the film was important in the context of Edward Snowden’s disclosures about surveillance.

Film critic and historian Carrie Rickey believes The Lives of Others was one of two movies that influenced Edward Snowden’s actions. The other film was The Conversation, a 1974 movie by Francis Ford Coppola. Both films are about people who listen in on phone calls and feel guilty about their work.

On June 25, 2013, after news about the National Security Agency (NSA) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) working together, British journalist and filmmaker Sarfraz Manzoor tweeted, “Now would be a good time to pitch a British remake of The Lives of Others.” On July 16, 2013, American novelist and news commentator Brad Thor said, “At what point did the Obama administration get the rights to make a version of The Lives of Others?”

In 2013, French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave an interview to Le Figaro, where he expressed anger about being spied on. He compared the situation to the film The Lives of Others, which is about East Germany and the Stasi, a secret police group. He said, “This is not a scene from that wonderful film. It is not about a dictator spying on political enemies. This is France.” Because of this interview, sales of Le Figaro more than doubled.

Libel suit

Henckel von Donnersmarck and Ulrich Mühe were found guilty of libel after an interview in which Mühe said his second wife, Jenny Gröllmann, told the Stasi about his activities during their six-year marriage while they lived in East Germany. Gröllmann denied these claims, but 254 pages of government documents showed her actions. Later, Gröllmann's real-life controller stated that many details in the file were false and that the actress did not know she was speaking to a Stasi agent.

Literature and music

• The book Das Leben der anderen by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was published by Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main in 2006. The book’s ISBN number is 3-518-45786-1.
• A special edition of Das Leben der anderen, called the "Geschwärzte Ausgabe," was published by Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main in 2007. Its ISBN number is 3-518-45908-2.
• The piano sonata titled Sonata for a Good Man, which appears in the film as a key moment for the Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler, was not composed by a famous musician. Instead, it was created specifically for the film by the composer Gabriel Yared.
• A quote about Beethoven’s Appassionata piano sonata is said to have been made by Lenin. He reportedly said, “If I keep listening to it, I won’t finish the revolution.”
• A part of a 1920 poem titled Reminiscence of Marie A. by Bertold Brecht is read aloud in the film. This happens when Wiesler reads it on his couch, after taking it from Dreyman’s desk.
• The poem Versuch es by Wolfgang Borchert is played as music in the film during a scene where Dreyman writes an article about suicide. Borchert was a playwright who lived through the difficult experience of being forced to join the Wehrmacht during World War II and fighting in the Eastern Front.