I was going to see ‘Sunshine’ last night, but fate intervened and I ended up seeing (from what I understand) a film that could not be much more different, ‘The Lives Of Others’, and I have to say that I’m pleased that things turned out as they did.

Set amidst the backdrop of the German Democratic Republic, the film tells the story of Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe), a surveillance and interrogation expert and member of The Stasi (the GDR’s secret police). Weisler has been tasked with spying on one of East Germany’s most celebrated writers, George Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Seiland (Martina Gedeck), as certain members of the government believe that he may be developing sympathies with the West.

As East German protocol dictated in these situations, Weissler has every room in Dreyman and Seiland’s apartment bugged, and from the attic of their building observes and listens in to everything they do. However, unexpectedly the more Weisler is exposed to the lives of Dreyman and Seiland, the more he begins to question the regime for which he has sacrificed the best part of his life.

The story is involving, and at times gripping, but the direction and ambience created by first time writer director Florial Henckel von Donnersmark, is also remarkably assured. I thankfully have no experience of East Germany in the 80s, but the muted colours, empty streets and understated direction conjure up exactly what I imagined it would look and feel like. Von Donnersmark creates a real sense of claustrophobia, the only real relief from which is Dreyman and Seiland’s apartment, which is in stark contrast to Weisler’s own.

Stylistically and metaphorically, a comparison of the two apartments seems to tell us as much about the differences between East and West as it does about the film’s characters.

Dreyman and Seiland’s apartment is very much symbolic of the West. It is an open and welcoming environment, full literature and art. It is a human place where love, and perhaps more importantly for those times, ideas can flourish. In comparison, Weisler’s typical East German dwelling is cold, regimented and loveless. Only Republican posters bring any colour to the walls, and it is telling that he almost begs the prostitute he summons to his building to stay with him after sex, as he begins to yearn for the human contact he has been exposed to through his work. It is only when Weisler is reading work by Brecht that he has stolen from Dreyman, that some light and life appears to seep into his apartment.

I’m not sure ‘The Lives Of Others’ quite deserves the recent hype lavished upon it, but I did think it was a very good film. It is well paced, well written, has great performances from all three central characters, and builds in a satisfying and deliberate fashion from the opening scene, to the touching but not overly sentimental close. The fact that it is a directorial debut makes it all the more impressive. As a director, von Donnesmark will now surely be courted by Hollywood, so it will be interesting to see how he tackles subject matter that is not so close to his heart. Watch this space.

Check out the trailer for ‘The Lives of Others’: