The Reader (2008) on Netflix
In post-war Germany, teenager Michael Berg falls ill and Hanna Schmitz, a stranger twice his age, sees him home. A secret affair begins, and she asks him to read aloud to her.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.6/10275,626 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes63%
Trailer
Plot summary
On a tram in a provincial German city in 1958, Michael Berg, fifteen, falls ill. Hanna Schmitz, a tram conductor roughly twice his age, helps him get home. Weeks later, recovered from scarlet fever, he brings her flowers to say thank you. The two begin a secret affair, and Hanna asks him to read aloud to her, from The Odyssey, Huck Finn and The Lady with the Little Dog. On a cycling holiday in the country, he notices oddities in her behavior, and his attempts at a deeper connection are rebuffed. Hanna is promoted at work and then leaves without explanation. He visits her to apologize after an argument and finds her apartment vacant.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Reader (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kate Winslet originally left the role of Hanna over a scheduling clash with Revolutionary Road, and Nicole Kidman was cast in her place, but Kidman dropped out in January 2008 citing her pregnancy; because she had not yet filmed a single scene, the studio was able to bring Winslet back without disrupting the shoot.
SPOILER
To age Hanna from cool seductress to imprisoned war criminal, Kate Winslet endured seven and a half hours of makeup and prosthetic prep each day of filming.- The production held off filming the sex scenes between Kate Winslet and co-star David Kross until Kross turned 18, and a merkin made for Winslet's nude scenes went unused because she refused to wear it.
- Producer Scott Rudin left The Reader over a dispute about the rushed editing process needed to ensure a 2008 release date, and had his name removed from the credit list.
- Several writers noted that Kate Winslet's success seemed to have made real her appearance in the BBC comedy Extras, in which she played a fictionalized version of herself who decided to increase her chance of winning an Oscar by starring in a film about the Holocaust.
- The Reader turned out to be the final film for two of its producers, Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom died before the movie was released.
