Films:
Sun 25 8.00pm The Courtyard Hereford
Sat 24 7.30pm Ludlow Assembly Rooms
Mon 26 11.00am The Courtyard Hereford
The Lives of Others (15)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Starring: Martina Gedeck,
Ulrich Muhe, Sebastian Koch.
Germany, 2006, 2 hours 17 minutes, subtitles
This remarkably assured first film deals with the nightmarish, Kafka-esque world of East Berlin in the mid-80s, during the heyday of the Stasi. It follows Weisler, a secret policeman, as he embarks on his latest job, the surveillance of Georg, a successful playwright and his actress lover. With its brooding atmosphere of fear, doubt and suspicion, this suspenseful thriller subtly shows how the bugging of their apartment effects not only the central couple, but also their dissident friends and even Weisler himself. In a society, where a harmless joke can ruin a career, what is most ominous is the sheer casual banality of bugging people for no good reason. An excellent script and uniformly superb performances make for a totally convincing and utterly compelling tale of lives tragically shaped by the society they live in.
Book a ticket to see the Sunday 25 March screening at The Courtyard and you can join us for a free drink beforehand courtesy of BAFTA and Screen WM
Winner of 3 European Film Awards 2006 including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Screenplay