Line #11 YMMV/TheReader


1	* AudienceAlienatingPremise: As described [[http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2009/02/dont_give_an_oscar_to_the_reader.html here]], the film invites the viewer to sympathise with a former concentration camp guard who was complicit in the murder of three hundred Jewish women (and the director avoided showing that scene so that the audience wouldn't have an "unbalanced" view of her). It also portrays an affair between said woman and a sixteen-year-old with gratuitous nudity from both (and the {{Squick}}y behind the scenes note that the filmmakers waited until the actor turned eighteen so they could legally film him nude).
2	* AwardSnub: The film didn't win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture, but fans of other films were very vocal that it got a nomination in favour of them.
3	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Nowadays, the Holocaust narrative of the film often comes second to the detail that it's a film where a thirtysomething has an affair with a 15-year-old.
4	* BrokenAesop:
5	** The film's take on Michael and Hanna's relationship is that it was borderline abusive and very wrong. Yet the scenes of the affair revel in {{Fanservice}}y shots of nude Kate Winslet, and the statutory rapist is presented as merely a complicated person, as opposed to a predatory adult taking advantage of a minor.
6	* ConsolationAward: By the time 2009 rolled around, Creator/KateWinslet had been nominated six times and had yet to win an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward. What makes people believe that this occurred is that she won Best Actress, even though she won the UsefulNotes/GoldenGlobe for Best Supporting Actress for the same role. Interestingly, she also won Best Lead Actress at the Golden Globes that year, but for ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad''. Many people believed that she deserved to win for ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'', as well as ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad'', ''Film/Titanic1997'', ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'' and ''Film/LittleChildren''.
7	* HilariousInHindsight:
8	** Creator/KateWinslet's appearance in ''{{Series/Extras}}'' was, at best, very prophetic:
9	-->"''I don't think we really need another film about [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the Holocaust]], do we? It's like, how many have there been, you know? We get it. It was grim. Move on. No, I'm doing it because I've noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust you're guaranteed an Oscar.''"
10	** Ricky Gervais [[LampshadeHanging pointed this out]] at the Golden Globes that year. "Well done Winslet, I told ya, do a Holocaust movie, the awards come, didn't I?" The actress was then seen [[{{Corpsing}} laughing her head off]].
11	* JustHereForGodzilla: For some, Kate Winslet's performance (though agreed to not be as good as some of her others) is the sole reason to watch the film.
12	* OvershadowedByControversy: This film might better be remembered as the one that fans of ''The Dark Knight'' and ''Wall-E'' claimed they were snubbed in favor of, due to the typical aggressive campaigning efforts of Harvey Weinstein. This would prompt the Academy to expand the Best Picture nominations to a maximum of ten films as a result.
13	* SpiritualSuccessor: Can be seen as a 2000s version of ''Film/TheNightPorter''; both films portray a doomed romance between a Nazi war criminal and their [[AgeGapRomance much younger lover]] in post-war Germany, although this film [[GenderFlip reverses the genders]].
14	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The fact that Hanna took advantage of an ill sixteen-year-old boy makes a lot of people refuse to give her any sympathy. Oh, and the whole thing about her being complicit in the death of several hundred Jewish women.
15	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The make-up used to age Kate Winslet about forty years is quite impressive.
16	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Hanna's [[spoiler:inability to read]] is a rather transparent metaphor for the inability of her generation to see the evil of the Nazis at the time it was occurring; not incidentally, it's by learning to read that she becomes fully aware of the enormity of the Holocaust.

Context YMMV / TheReader