The Lives of Others - Family Review

Content Warnings

• Sexual Content

  Moderate
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  A woman is sexually assaulted by a man in a car. The man is shown groping and undressing her before removing his trousers. The scene cuts away before anything further is shown.

  A couple of scenes of sexual intercourse: In one scene, a major character is seen having sex with a prostitute while seated in a chair and she is straddling him. In another scene the protagonist is having sex with his girlfriend. In both of these scenes we see breasts and buttocks.

  There are two scenes with a major female character taking a shower, and she is shown mostly from the rear.

  A prostitute undresses she shows prolongued rear nudity. Breasts are also seen.

• Violence

  Mild
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  A character commits suicide, but it's only talked about.

• Profanity

  Mild
  None Mild Moderate Severe
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  The movie dialog is in German with subtitles. There is one scene where an angry character is seen exclaming "Scheiße!" and the word "S***!" is printed as a subtitle. Otherwise, none.

• Intense Scenes

  Moderate
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  Very early in the movie, a prisoner deprived of sleep is being interrogated. He breaks down when threatened with the arrest of his wife and the institutionalization of his children.

  The film does get a bit depressing at times and has the overall feeling of militant oppression when the Communists were in power.

  During a class scene of would-be interrogators, taught by a senior and respected Stasi interrogator, a student asks a question that shows sympathy to the prisoners plight. The instructor then makes a mark on the seating chart where this student is sitting perhaps to keep an eye on this student as a possible prisoner sympathizer or of the wrong character to do the job well.