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Official Trailer

The Lives of Others(2006)
Released
2006 · FILM

The Lives of Others

A Stasi officer assigned to spy on a celebrated East German playwright becomes unexpectedly entangled in a moral crisis as he uncovers the truth behind the surveillance—and the dangerous power of art and love.

“Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets.”

Directed by
Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, Katrin Arendt
Written by
Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
137 min
Language
DE
DramaMysteryThriller
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

In 1984 in East Berlin, Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler is assigned to monitor the playwright Georg Dreyman and his actress lover, Christa-Maria Sieland. As Wiesler carries out his surveillance, he unexpectedly develops a sense of sympathy for the couple. His professional obligations are complicated when his superior, Captain HGW XX/7, also takes an interest in Christa-Maria.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 160+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Patricia RommelShot by Hagen BogdanskiScored by Stephane MouchaDesigned by Hildegard BechtlerSound by Christoph Von SchonburgCostumes by Gabriele Binder

Box Office

2006 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 39× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$77.7M

Budget$2.0M
Worldwide gross$77.7M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $11.3M — 15% of worldwide · International: $66.4M (85%)

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • The Lives of Othersen
  • La vida de los otroses
  • La Vie des autresfr
  • Le vite degli altriit
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • GermanyMar 15, 2006
  • CanadaMar 23, 2006
  • SwitzerlandAug 6, 2006
  • AustriaAug 17, 2006

Production & Distribution

Production companies
Wiedemann & Berg FilmproduktionBayerischer Rundfunk (BR)ARTECreado Film
Distributors
Buena Vista InternationalLionsgateProoptiki
Other companiesBeta Cinema, Aldershof Requisiten Fundus, Champagne Veuve Clicquot, CinePostproduction, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA)

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