The Lives of Others (2006)

Ulrich Mühe: Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Buchverkäufer : 29.80. Would you like it gift wrapped?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : No. It's for me.

• [Wiesler enters the elevator at his apartment building. A young boy with a ball joins him] 

  Junge mit Ball : Are you really with the Stasi?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Do you even know what the Stasi is?

  Junge mit Ball : Yes. They're bad men who put people in prison, says my dad.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : I see. What is the name of your...

  [pauses] 

  Junge mit Ball : My what?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : [thinks for a few more seconds]  Ball. What's the name of your ball?

  Junge mit Ball : You're funny. Balls don't have names.

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : An innocent prisoner will become more angry by the hour due to the injustice suffered. He will shout and rage. A guilty prisoner becomes more calm and quiet. Or he cries. He knows he's there for a reason. The best way to establish guilt or innocence is non-stop interrogation.

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Madam?

  Christa-Maria Sieland : Go away. I want to be alone.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Madam Sieland?

  Christa-Maria Sieland : Do we know each other?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : You don't know me, but I know you. Many people love you for who you are.

  Christa-Maria Sieland : Actors are never "who they are."

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : You are. I've seen you on stage. You were more who you are than you are now.

  Christa-Maria Sieland : So you know what I'm like.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : I'm your audience.

  Christa-Maria Sieland : I have to go.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Where to?

  Christa-Maria Sieland : I'm meeting an old classmate. I...

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : You see? Just now, you weren't being yourself.

  Christa-Maria Sieland : No?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : No.

  Christa-Maria Sieland : So you know her well, this Christa-Maria Sieland. What do you think - would she hurt someone who loves her above all else? Would she sell herself for art?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : For art? You already have art. That'd be a bad deal. You are a great artist. Don't you know that?

  Christa-Maria Sieland : And you are a good man.

• Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz : Did you forget? Bosses sit over there.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Socialism must start somewhere.

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Hands under your thighs. Palms down... What do you have to tell us?

  Häftling 227 : I haven't done anything .. I don't know anything.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : You have done nothing... know nothing... . so you think we just arrest innocent citizens on a whim?

  Häftling 227 : No... not

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : If you think our humane system is capable of something like that, that would be a reason enough to arrest you

• Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz : So we're helping a Committee member get a rival out of the way. You know what this could mean for my career. And for yours. If we find something...

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Is that why we joined? You remember the oath we took? 'We are the Party's shield and sword.'

  Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz : What is the Party, if not its members? And if those members are highly influential, all the better!

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Frau Meineke... One word of this to anyone, and Masha loses her spot at the university. Is that understood?

  Frau Meineke : Yes.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : [to his assistant]  Send Mrs. Meineke a gift for her cooperation.

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : [referring to a cloth on which a prisoner was required to sit during interrogations]  Does anyone know what that is? It's the odor sample for the dogs. It must be collected at every interrogation. Never forget it! Your subjects are enemies of Socialism. Never forget that!

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Do you notice anything about his statement?

  Benedikt Lehmann : It's the same as at the beginning.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Exactly the same. Word for word. People who tell the truth can re-formulate things, and they do. A liar has prepared sentences, which he falls back on when under pressure.

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Don't forget what the state has done for you... Your whole life long. Now you can do something for the state. And it will thank you. Tell me where the typewriter's hidden. Dreyman will never find out. I'll let you go immediately, and we'll strike only after you're back with him. You'll manage to feign surprise, I'm sure. And tonight you'll be back on stage. In your element. In front of your audience. Tell me where the documents are. Where are they?

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Stay awhile.

  Prostituierte 'Ute' : I can't, my next customer is at half-past. I work on a schedule.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : At 1:30? You won't make it.

  Prostituierte 'Ute' : Sure I will. Don't you worry. Book me for longer next time. Bye.

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : They're writing a play together. For the 40th anniversary.

  Udo : It doesn't sound like a play to me.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : No? Then what?

  Udo : I don't know... but not a play.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : You think a lot, Sergeant Leye. You're not an intellectual, are you?

  Udo : No? No... I'm not one of those.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Then don't behave like one. I chose you because you know the equipment and don't ask questions. Leave the thinking to your superiors.

  Udo : Yes, Captain.

• Georg Dreyman : Who'd have thought our State Security was so incompetent? Who'd have thought they were such idiots?

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : Just you wait...

• Christa-Maria Sieland : [dying]  I was too weak. I can never put right what I've done wrong.

  Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : There's nothing to put right! You understand? Nothing. I moved the ty...

• Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler : In another 10 hours... No, in 9 and a half, Mr. Roessing will tell his audience that you, for health reasons, cannot appear. And that will be your last mention in the acting world. Is that what you want? Tell us where the evidence is hidden.