When he falls ill on his way home from school, 15 year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. The two begin an unexpected and passionate affair only for Hanna to suddenly and inexplicably disappear. Eight years later, Michael, now a young law student observing Nazi war trials, meets his former lover again, under very different circumstances. Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime, and as she refuses to defend herself, Michael gradually realizes his boyhood love may be guarding a secret she considers to be more shameful than murder.

The Reader is like almost watching two movies that tie together nicely in the middle. The first part of the film is a sensual and sexually explicit journey of love, discovery and youth. Michael is young, he is innocent and the affair he and Hanna has changes his life forever even though he doesn’t yet realize it is going to have such a grand effect on him. The first half of the movie explores that innocence before it is lost, that idea of discovery even though you can feel a shadow looming in the distance that threatens to shatter everything. You can see that Hanna is being manipulative even if it is for a good cause. You can tell eventually she will do something or something will happen to shatter that brief moment of happiness for Michael and it charges the scenes makes them more electric makes them stand out better. It is the threat of loss, the threat of things changing forever but trying to cling to them all the same even though you can see one party is being selfish and that it can’t end well. It makes the movie exciting, it makes it enthralling that looming disaster and not knowing when it will come and how it will come.

The second part of the film is about the consequences of loss innocence, the consequences of past deeds and trying to cope and deal with them. Trying to find a place for them in Michael’s life once innocence is gone and the world comes crashing down on him. He doesn’t cope well, he doesn’t deal well, he tries to ignore the feelings, the pain of lost love, the pain of a betrayal he feels Hanna has done to him. The second part of the film is the tragic part, but it is almost a self-inflected tragedy. Michael has a chance at reconciliation, he has a chance at saving Hanna but he doesn’t do it, he can’t find it in himself to face her to help her. The film doesn’t answer if its because he feels betrayed or if its because of the revelation of Hanna’s past but he finds himself on the fence and by the time he finally crosses over its too late. It makes for a fantastic story, a tragic story, a cautionary tale and enthralls you as an audience member.

We never truly understand Hanna, she is like an oasis in the desert, a mirage so to speak a thing of desire that Michael craves for but every time he gets close enough to take a drink he realizes its only a mirage and not an actual oasis. What she does and says seems so simple but in the end it is very complex. She always has an ulterior motive, an agenda and we never really get to see that agenda nor entirely understand it, it may just as simple as it seems. She may just desire for the tough of another human, to be read to, to find a closeness she can’t really ever achieve. Michael admits he has always been so closed off to his daughter and the tragedy of his loss youth is the reason but Hanna Is closed off as well and we never know her reasons. The movie explores human emotions and passing and draws you in and keeps you glued to your seat.

Another subtext of the film in a film that has so many is about how far one would go to conceal a secret. Hanna’s secret is so simple but it is devastating for her so much so that she would admit to murder before she would admit to not being able to read. Michael also has a secret and that is affair with Hanna that was improper and he almost seems a little bit ashamed of and for Michael he is willing to let Hanna go to prison for the rest of her life rather than admit his secret. Both characters have secrets and both go to extraordinary lengths to keep them hidden even though it destroys them. Hanna is willing to spend life in prison to keep hers and Michael is willing to destroy a small piece of his soul and give up his lost love to keep his. It’s powerful and terrifying and compelling all at the same time. The movie has so many stories and subplots that its hard to be compelled by at least one of them.

Kate Winslet was fantastic in the movie in fact she was beyond fantastic she was phenomenal. This may be her bravest and most daring role to date and her most complex. It also was very daring and risky that she was naked for most of the first half of the film as she shows a sensuality, and an almost brutal sexuality a side you rarely see in actress on screen. She is not abashed by her nudity and its fitting as her character isn’t either as she takes advantage of a much younger man not caring nor even knowing she might be ruining him forever. It is brash and brave and the best performance of her career. Ralph Fiennes plays the older Michael an almost sad sac of a person trying to cope with life and he also gives a haunting performance. The movie is a fantastic tale of innocence lost, a sexually charged look at life, love and sex.

Grade: A-