An incomplete life consumed by the desire to fill a seemingly unfillable void. An endless search to feel whole again. 'The Reader' is a sensitive and subtle portrayal of the impact of unfulfilled love on a life that is lived in a subconscious quest to find it again.
Set during post-WW2 in
It’s rare that you come across cinema that conveys so much by saying so little. The admirable quality of ‘The Reader’ is that if you don’t pay attention to the subtleties, you miss the essence. In many ways a thinking man’s movie, the film exposes you to various intricacies in the lives of these two characters after they meet, that tell you a story on the impact that their affair has had on the rest of their lives.
The acting honors are evenly shared by Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, in her Oscar winning role. David Kross who plays the young man who gets involved with the older woman deservers special mention for his portrayal of wide eyed innocence that matures into a bitter emptiness upon facing rejection. Stephen Daldry’s direction based on David Hare’s screenplay is outstanding in its usage of brevity to convey complex emotions.
‘The Reader’ reaffirms my belief in the power of cinema, in its ability to be able to depict life’s complexities in the simplest and most effective of ways and also as another triumphant depiction of love and what it means to never see it blossom.
