The Lives of Others Critic Reviews

Metascore®:

91 =
Based upon 14 Critic Reviews
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The New York Times | A.O. ScottAdd Critic to Favorites

The easy, complacent distance that informs much historical filmmaking is almost entirely absent from this supremely intelligent, unfailingly honest movie.Read the full review

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger EbertAdd Critic to Favorites

A powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires.Read the full review

USA Today | Claudia PuigAdd Critic to Favorites

A thoroughly compelling political thriller, at once intellectually challenging and profoundly emotional.Read the full review

Slate | Dana StevensAdd Critic to Favorites

It's an intricate, ambiguous and deeply satisfying movie, a tautly plotted tale of state surveillance and personal betrayal that ultimately becomes an ode to the transformative power of art.Read the full review

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalleAdd Critic to Favorites

A great film, the best I've seen since Terrence Malick's "The New World," and far and away the richest and most brilliantly acted picture to be released this Oscar season.Read the full review

Washington Post | Desson ThomsonAdd Critic to Favorites

To watch "Lives" is not just to enjoy a fabulously constructed timepiece; it's to appreciate a deft cautionary tale.Read the full review

Entertainment Weekly | Lisa SchwarzbaumAdd Critic to Favorites

Utterly riveting fictional drama.Read the full review

Los Angeles Times | Kenneth TuranAdd Critic to Favorites

It convincingly demonstrates that when done right, moral and political quandaries can be the most intensely dramatic dilemmas of all.Read the full review

Boston Globe | Ty BurrAdd Critic to Favorites

The Lives of Others has similarities to Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 classic "The Conversation" but with undercurrents that resound across an entire century of European political history.Read the full review

Rolling Stone | Peter TraversAdd Critic to Favorites

Von Donnersmarck has crafted the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head.Read the full review

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