The Lives of Others

Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

2005/2006

Opening questions:

How important is listening in your life?

Can you imagine a way that listening might change your basic beliefs? How? If not, why not?

Background:

Potsdam Conference

The Cold War

The GDR

Berlin

The Stasi

What we’re going to study:

Plot

Setting

Character – dynamic/static characters

Theme

Conflict

Point of view

Allusion

Camera shots/angles, etc.

Sound

Mise-en-scene - The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, décor, props, costume – is calledmise-en-scène, a French term that means “placing on stage.” The frame and camerawork also constitute the mise-en-scène of a movie.

Foil

Juxtaposition

Dramatic irony

Motif

Skills:

Using evidence to support opinion

Prediction

Big questions:

What happens to the human need for privacy and intimacy when espionage is a common instrument?

How might people feel if they can’t be sure if they are ever in safe surroundings?

Characters

·  Gerd Wiesler – Captain in the Stasi, in charge of the surveillance operation

·  Georg Dreyman – a successful playwright, Sieland’s partner

·  Christa-Maria Sieland – well-known actress, Dreymann’s partner

·  Anton Grubitz – friend of Wiesler’s, a careerist in the system

·  Bruno Hempf – Minister and member of the Central Committee; he orders the surveillance of Dreyman

·  Albert Jerska – a theatre director who is banned from his profession for being critical of the system

·  Paul Hauser – a dissident and confidant of Dreyman

Day One – introduce Wiesler, Grubitz, Hempf, Dreyman, Sieland

Terms: allusion, foil

Opening scenes – Wiesler lectures; at the theatre

  1. From this opening sequence, what kind of man does Wiesler seem to be? How would you describe him?
  2. How is this information conveyed to us?
  3. What kinds of actions and behaviours are you expecting as a result?
  4. Grubitz is a foil for Wiesler. (In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character with the objective to highlight the traits of the other character.) How does Grubitz make Wiesler’s character more clear? (How can you contrast Grubitz’s behaviour with Wiesler’s?)

Day Two – introduce Hauser, Jerska

Bugging the flat – we see here circumstances which demonstrate the power and social control of the Stasi. Wiesler and his men enter the building and being setting wires and connecting recording equipment. We see the neighbour watching the events from across the hall. The reputation of the Stasi was such that, having seen something or at least having thought you did, was enough reason to think that you might also be under surveillance.

1.  Were you shocked by this sequence?

2.  Did you find the power exhibited by Wiesler surprising?

3.  Put yourself in the position of the neighbour. How would you have felt? What would you have done?

4.  How was the tension developed? Think about the use of sound and camerawork. What did you find the most significant elements in this sequence?

Visit with Jerska

Party at Dreyman and Christa-Maria’s flat

5.  How do Wiesler’s surroundings contrast with Georg and Christa-Maria’s? For example, think about Christa-Maria’s home and the music that is used with the couple.

Important Quotes:

“We are the Party’s shield and sword.”

Hauser: “If you don’t take a stand, you’re not human.”


Day Three – the surveillance operation has unexpected results for Weisler.

Trigger warnings: suggestion of non-consensual sex, prostitution

Terms: juxtaposition

Big questions:

  1. How does Weisler change?
  2. Think about his actions from this point on in the film – are they in keeping with the character traits established so far?
  3. What do you think causes these changes?
  4. List the main events that indicate the changes in Weisler that occur from this point in the film until the end.

Maintain a double-entry journal until the end of the film

Unwrapping presents

In the cafeteria

  1. What is the significance of the fact that Minister Hempf brought Ms Sielund home?
  2. Explain how the camerawork enhances the tension of this scene. Why would the director choose medium shots? How does Wiesler react to Grubitz? What does this tell us about him?

Hempf and Christa-Maria

  1. What is your reaction to the relationship between Hempf and Christa-Maria?
  2. Consider the juxtaposition of this scene and the previous one (telling jokes in the cafeteria). In what way is Christa-Maria’s position similar to the young man’s?
  3. Why do you think Weisel rings the doorbell & get Dreyman to see Christa-Maria return? What are his motivations?
  4. Describe Christa-Maria’s actions when she gets upstairs. What do we learn about her?
  5. Why doesn’t Dreyman confront her? What does this tell us about him?

Startling News (warning: prostitute scene)

  1. Are you surprised that Weisel sees a prostitute? Describe his reaction when she gets ready to go.

Discuss

Day Four

Trigger warnings: mention of suicide

Terms: dramatic irony

Weisel discovers art

  1. Why do you think that Weisel goes into Dreyman’s apartment?
  2. At this point, do you believe that Dreyman should be under surveillance? Are you suspicious of his loyalty to the state? Why or why not? (after Hauser’s visa is denied)

Jerska’s suicide

  1. After Jerska commits suicide, Dreyman plays the piano (Sonata for a Good Man). Why does he do this? What statement does this make about art? What is Weisel’s reaction? Does this seem realistic? Have you ever reacted like this to a piece of art?

Important Quotes:

v  “…what Lenin said about Beethoven’s Appassionata. ‘If I keep listening to it, I won’t finish the Revolution.’”

v  “Can anyone who has heard this music, I mean truly heard it, really be a bad person?”

Elevator scene

  1. How has Weisel changed? Describe everything you notice in this scene.

Don’t Go

  1. Dreyman asks Christa Maria not to go. What are his reasons for her to stay? What are hers for going? Who do you agree with?
  2. Why do you think the director cuts the scene in the middle of the argument?
  3. Note the changes in Weisler.
  4. Why does Weisler approach Christa Maria? What is his motivation? What outcome is he hoping for?

Important Quotes:

v  “You don’t know me, but I know you.”

v  “Now I’ll have the strength, now I’ll do something.”

Jerska’s funeral

  1. Why do you think that the State doesn’t count suicides? What does this imply?

Meeting Hauser

  1. Explain the dramatic irony around the bugging of the apartments.
  2. In what way are Weisler’s recent actions “good”? Do they have good or bad results? Think both short term and long term. Does an action have to have a positive result to be considered “good”?

Playwrights

  1. When hiding the typewriter, Dreyman accidentally gets red ink on his hands. What might this foreshadow?

Talking to Grubitz

  1. Why doesn’t Weisler tell Grubitz what’s happening? Think of as many plausible explanations as you can.

***P2 stopped here*** 1:25

Publishing the article

  1. Were Dreyman’s friends right that he should not tell Christa what he’s doing? What would you do?
  2. At this point in the movie, who is living a more truthful life: Dreyman or Weisler? Has this always been the case?

Day Five start at 1:29

Trigger warning: suicide

Terms: motif

Grubitz under pressure

  1. What mistake does Weisler make when he first speaks to Grubitz?
  2. What does Minister Hempf ask for? Why?

Christa Maria with the Stasi

  1. In a similar situation, what would you do?

The Stasi come to Dreyman

Interrogation – “Your audience awaits.”

  1. Grubitz asks Weisler, “Are you still on the right side?” Is he?
  2. What’s the difference between a prisoner and an informer?
  3. How does Weisler attempt to communicate with Christa Maria? What does he want her to do – confess or keep the secret?
  4. How does he react to her confession? What about you?

At Dreyman’s

  1. Notice where Weisler is hiding when Dreyman comes home. What significance might that have? (Where have we seen this before?)
  2. What other images from earlier in the film are repeated in this section? How are they the same or different than before?
  3. If Grubitz knows where the typewriter is, why does he pretend to search the apartment?
  4. Who is to blame for Christa Maria’s death?

Post Mortem

  1. Why do you think the director chose the image of trees as Grubitz and Weisler leave?
  2. If Grubitz knows that Weisler did it, why doesn’t he arrest him?
  3. allusion: Mikhail Gorbachev = coming of glasnost = end of Communism

Letters in the basement

  1. Explain the reaction to the announcement that the wall is down.

At the theatre

  1. What does Hempf mean when he says that “life was good in our little republic?” What does this have to do with Dreyman not writing?


Important Quotes:

“Nothing to believe in, nothing to rebel against.”

The apartment was bugged/reading the records

  1. What discoveries does Dreyman make when he reads the notes from his surveillance?

Thanking Weisler

  1. Why doesn’t Dreyman speak to Weisler when he sees him delivering mail?
  2. Is Dreyman’s thanks enough?
  3. The final words are “It’s for me.” In what ways is that true?

Modern Connections

NSA

Collateral damage