I Am Your Audience, from "The Lives of Others" (Das Leben der Anderen, 2006), directed (and written) by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, which is the best name ever
This Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Language Film is another highlight of my International Politics on Film course. I show it second, after Land and Freedom, which captures the enthusiasm and optimism of the Spanish Revolution, along with harbingers of its demise under Stalinist control. Here, we move to the neo-Stalinist surveillance state of East Germany, invigilated and intimidated by the Stasi security agency. The year, surely not coincidentally, is 1984. Favoured intellectuals like playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his actor partner, Christa-Maria Seeland (a haunting Martina Gedeck), must prostitute themselves in some form to the regime. Georg, who fancies himself a dissident, is oblivious to his corrupted lapdog status. But for Christa-Maria, the compromise is intimate and physical, as she braces for another night with the repulsive Stasi boss, Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme). The sequence begins with the humorous elevator scene, an early intimation of moral crisis in Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler, who's been assigned to monitor the couple and their circle (Ulrich Mühe, in a celebrated role; tragically, he died not long after the film's release). We then follow the tormented exchange between Christa-Maria and Georg, the eavesdropping by Wiesler, the interruption by his night-shift sidekick, Udo (Charly Hübner), and his beautifully-played encounter with Christa-Maria in a nearby bar. The reading of Udo's boneheaded report provides a lighthearted conclusion. But for how long can Wiesler protect the couple? Check out "The Lives of Others" for yourself -- it's an unforgettable film.
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