UlrichMühe Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I am very sad to report that Ulrich Mühe, the star of the Oscar-winning German film, The Lives Of Others, died in his German home this Sunday. Coincidentally, it was the same day that a German paper published an interview with the actor, where he confirmed that he was fighting stomach cancer. It seems that the immensely talented actor had been fighting the illness for a while, even when he had flown to Los Angeles with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck to see his drama win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

It's a bittersweet loss for the cinematic community. While Mühe, a veteran of German theater, wracked up 60 film and television credits over his career, and found considerable TV success with Letzte Zeuge, Der, Others was his true breakout role. The film won him acting awards from the Bavarian Film Awards, Copenhagen International Film Festival, European Film Awards, German Film Awards and German Film Critics Association Awards. I was lucky enough, like Martha Fischer, who reviewed Others for Cinematical at last year's TIFF, to see Mühe during the fest's screenings. During the Q&A, he talked about his work on the picture, and how he was watched by the Stasi in the days before unification -- something that definitely helped to bring his performance to a higher level in the film.

As Martha said at the end of her review: "both Mühe and The Lives of Others are unforgettable." I can only imagine what he would have accomplished with more time on screen. His final film, Nemesis, which he starred in with his wife, is currently in post-production.

At the center of The Lives of Others is Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), a quietly proud Stasi officer who has spent his life and career in unquestioning service of the East German government. His service is not blind: Wiesler is a man who serves with full knowledge of what his State does to its enemies -- indeed, he teaches interrogation at the Stasi University, and is applauded by students for his ability to break suspects. He's not a mindless functionary but an intelligent man who sincerely feels socialism is the best path for his country, and that the Stasi provides a crucial service. Not a proponent of belligerent proselytizing, Wiesler simply observes the world around him, judging with his sad eyes when he sees others whose commitment to the State stems from self-interest rather than true devotion to its principles. When his superior and old friend Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) becomes increasingly focused on his own advancement within the Stasi hierarchy, Wiesler offers the dour disapproval of a parent, quietly asking the other to remember why they first joined the Party.

Dragged by Grubitz to the theater one night on yet another of his friend's steps towards self-advancement, Wiesler sees a play by Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch in a charming, low-key performance), one of the few high-profile, truly talented playwrights in the country fully committed to the Socialist cause. After spending most of of the show watching Dreyman, Wiesler becomes vaguely suspicious of the man's true feelings and, through a series of accidental circumstances, finds himself charged with setting up and directing surveillance on Dreyman's apartment.