The Reader (Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Lena Olin) — Ah, young love! Do you know anyone whose first teenage sexual experience was with a much older woman? It happens in the movies all the time, most recently in Notes on a Scandal. I would be trivializing this movie if I boiled it down to that, but those who don’t like this film may consider it just that. This is the story of a teenager in post-World War II Berlin who is helped by a simple woman, Hannah Schmitz, when he gets sick in the street. He ends up having to stay at home for several months (with Scarlet Fever, if I remember correctly). When he recovers, he goes back to thank the woman, who is a ticket taker and fare collector on a trolley. The visit becomes a sexual one, and it continues for three months. Kate Winslet plays Hannah, whose personality is both very controlled and controlling except during the sexual escapades. Most of all, she wants Michael (David Kross) to read to her, at first after sex but, later, as a pre-requisite for sex. The affair ends abruptly, and the story flashes forward to Michael in law school.
It is here the drama begins. Michael is part of a small seminar class that attends the public war crimes trial of female security guards at Auschwitz. To his horror, he sees that the focus of the trial is on Hannah. Knowing nothing about her life before their affair, Michael finds himself conflicted. I’ll leave the rest of the story for your viewing pleasure. There is a parallel story here about a morose man (Ralph Fiennes who plays morose and angst-ridden better than any actor in the world) who seems to be getting his affairs in order. The stories eventually intersect, of course. There are some surprise plot twists here as well. But most of all, there is fine acting by the entire cast, including the young Kross. Nominated for a Best Picture Golden Globe, this is Kate Winslet as you haven’t seen her (and you see a lot of her). Between this and Revolutionary Road (she is nominated for Golden Globes for both films), Winslet has stamped herself as one her generation’s best actresses (led by Cate Blanchett). The first half of The Reader is a sensual story; the last half a mystery and character study. This is one fine, relatively depressing film.