Two Lives (2012) User Reviews (16)

When dark hidden secrets surface

[OJT · 8/10 · 12 April 2013]

A tight, clever and well done drama based on similar true events, as much a a psychological thriller which is not difficult to recommend. Straight away I got the same feeling as when I saw the German Oscar winning film Das leben der Anderen (The life of others) back in 2006. And this Norwegian/German story has similar elements in some ways, though not to be exaggerated, with consequences going back to when the Berlin wall fell, in this great casted movie which has managed to make Liv Ullmann making a comeback.

In a thriller-like manner we follow a woman in 1990 hiding her identity before going into a children's home archives in Germany in search of a secret. Then we jump to Norway, two weeks earlier to find out why this search has started, then understanding the woman is a German with a family living in Norway. We watch her being confronted with old memories, when a lawyer with German accent approaches her at work, wanting her to participate in a lawsuit regarding the so called Lebensborn-kids deported to Germany due to them having a German father during the second world war. The trouble is that she has a secret history in her life, which now is threatening to surface...

Lebensborn is a dark page in the past war history. During the second world war many German soldiers had relationships to Norwegian women. The women was called German-whores due to the hard feeling between the two countries in war. Due to Nazi ideology the children of these relationships was seen upon as extremely valuable, as pure aryan raced kids. Lebensborn was forced adoptions of these small "children of shame" during and after the occupation, bringing them to Germany as orphans, losing their parents. This story is based in these tragic destinies.

The film keeps interest way through, and is well acted and directed. A strong story making lives difficult several decades later.

Intriguing and historically significant portrait of an illusion

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 24 September 2013]

Director Georg Maas and co-director Judith Kaufmann are far from big names in the movie industry, even here in Germany. So I was a bit surprised when their most recent project "Zwei Leben" ("Two Lives") was selected as the official submission to the Academy for this year's foreign language Oscar instead of "Oh Boy", the big winner from this year's national film awards. After watching "Zwei Leben" the other day, I can totally see why. Apart from Köhler's excellent performance, statistics are on her side as well. In the last 15 years several films starring her as a lead character made quite some waves abroad. "Aimée & Jaguar" managed a foreign language nomination at the Golden Globes, "Downfall", in which she played the Eva Braun to Bruno Ganz' Adolf Hitler was Oscar-nominated and Nowhere in Africa even won the Foreign Language Oscar ten years ago. Could this be her next coup?

We get to see flashbacks, but most of the film takes place in 1990, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall and illustrates besides the personal fate of the central character and everybody close to her, also the historic phenomenon of the "Lebensborn"-generation. This describes Aryan-looking children from German-occupied areas during World War II who were abducted to Germany for breeding purposes. When the War ended, many of these were on their own trying to make it back home and did not make it. Köhler does not play one of these children. She plays a Stasi informant who was planted in Norway for spying purposes and assumed the identity of Katrine Evensen, one of the aforementioned "Lebensborn"-children. At first, there was nobody but her mother, but not much later she marries under her new identity and gives birth to a daughter. Decades later she is still living the family life under her wrong identity. However, a recent investigation on possible compensation for the "Lebensborn"-children makes her facade crumble more and more, while we find out what happened to the real Katrine Evensen.

This film is a thrill-ride for over 90 minutes as well as an important history lesson on an issue which is not really known to many. I remember our curricula at school packed with material about the Nazis and World War II, but I'm surprised this was never included at all. It's shaping up to be an interesting year for the foreign language Oscar. The Saudi-Arabian entry is nothing short of magnificent either and if Denmark submits Mikkelsen's "Jagten", it could be one of the best group of nominees in years. Anyway, back to "Zwei Leben", besides Köhler's great work, also almost the whole supporting cast delivers convincing portrayals. Multiple Oscar-nominee Liv Ullmann is back after a break of many years and nails her scenes just like Nordin, Bache-Wiig and the duo of actors who portray the GDR-shadows from the past coming back to haunt Köhler's character. If there is anything I would criticize it was Ken Duken's portrayal. I've seen quite a few of his works and I just don't think he's a great actor at all, sadly. I'm yet to see a performance where he really becomes the character, just like the ladies do in this one, and the thick beard he spots in this one can't convince me. But that's really just a very minor deduction. I recommend this film a lot, not only to Norwegians and Germans, but also to everybody else. It's a deeply moving piece highlighted by Juliane Köhler's multi-layered portrayal of a victim-offender character and I truly hope it can make the nomination.

Competent Suspense

[samkan · 7/10 · 16 July 2014]

The acting in TWO LIVES is top notch, not to mention the beautiful Liv Ulmann playing-get this-a great-grandmother superbly. The film is based on true events; i.e., the Nazi taking of Nordic infants to replenish Aryan blood with the post-war pack of returned children infiltrated with communist spies. The best scenes are in the middle of the film when we squirm and cringe watching Juliene Krohler struggling to keep her deception afloat. Sven Nodrin is also great as the husband suspending disbelief to keep his marriage afloat. Notwithstanding, the attempts to persuade us to forgive Katrine's deceit arrive too late in the film and the violence at the end, in hindsight, appears unnecessary to achieve TWO LIVES' ends. More tragic effect is actually achieved by the scene of Ullmann's empty eyes staring through the window. I forgive the shortcomings at the end of the movie, however, for the suspense and intrigue generated.

Excellent movie

[feldstein · 16 November 2014]

I saw the movie on Netflix and it was much more than I expected. The suspense was riveting.

The acting is superb and the plot development is taut.

It is also interesting from an historical standpoint, because it deals with some very painful topics that are often avoided, especially by those most closely impacted by them. Some reviews say the plot is not believable. They are in denial, because unfortunately, it is very much grounded in the reality of the unwanted war babies of collaborators and a very active espionage network run by the Stasi.

One of the scenes shows Vera learning to decode messages from a numbers station. I lived in Germany in the late 70's and heard the broadcasts of number after number. When I asked my coworkers about this strange station on the AM dial they explained the purpose to me.

If you understand just how plausible the premise of this movie is, you will appreciate all of its chilling and haunting emotional brutality.

Plot holes

[WCanaris · 6/10 · 30 August 2021]

All in all a pretty watchable spy thriller. Yet some major plot holes downgrade the film.

(1) Why would the Stasi plant an imposter in place of a person that is still alive and actively seeking out her mother in the West. She even created a video calling out to her mother. If she hadn't traveled to Norway and/or the Norwegian mother had realized her real daughter was alive and well, the whole operation would have collapsed. The proper method would probably be to plant an agent in place of a person they know to be definitely dead and records erased.

(2) Why would the Stasi burn the girl's body in the woods not far from the residential area of the town. It would attract attention and leave bone remains. Far safer to bury the body.

(3) The assassination method to cut the breaks of the victim's car is comically unpractical. What if the driver uses the breaks while slowly moving out of the yard or if the victim simply survives? So many things could go wrong.

If these were authentic Stasi methods, no wonder they went out of business.

Well done, but sympathies misplaced

[qariq · 7/10 · 6 August 2014]

For several years I was in the Army, stationed in West Germany. I worked for a time in Counter-Intelligence. We looked for and caught spies. Many spies had very compelling stories and most of them were patriots, in their way. But they were spies. They preyed on human weakness and betrayed human trust. That's the nature of the spy business.

I liked this movie. All the reviews speak of the wonderful scenery, acting and cinematography. All good stuff. But forgive me if I find Vera less than sympathetic. She was a loyal East German who fooled a family, participated in the killing of an innocent girl, and betrayed her new home country. She wasn't "Lebensborn" but took advantage of them to benefit her old home country.

Vera died. Too bad, perhaps. But her family lived and had to live with her story. Any sympathy should lie with them, not her.

Good movie, but ...

[newjersian · 6/10 · 27 November 2017]

Interesting story, solid script, good actors, but the unbelievable end spoils everything. First, a man that got a huge knife into his stomach is unable to run or carry a body. Why should've director of that movie added such a foolish detail? Secondly, the story with the broken brakes doesn't hold water. When a driver starts his trip and the brakes are broken, he/she immediately mentions that. But that cliché used in many movies doesn't work in reality. The driver always has an option to move the gear to a lower speed and to activate the hand break. Thirdly, at the end of the movie there's a claim that a woman's body was found, but she couldn't be identified till these days. What, the family didn't seek neither the missing mother and wife, nor the missing car? In general, it's a good movie with some unnecessary goofs at the end. Probably the director just didn't know how to end it.

What a Surprise! John Le Carre Quality Espionage Story, Great Acting

[poetcomic1 · 9/10 · 10 July 2014]

I expected a 'small' film, very Scandinavian and moody about not much of anything. Instead, one of the most intriguing and suspenseful espionage stories ever AND based on a true case! Beautifully scripted, crisply directed and Liv Ullmann deftly underplaying her role steals every scene she is in! The spycraft is top-rate and believable and the human elements, above all, make this endlessly fascinating. I am not easy to please when it comes to Cold War thrillers.

The central character is endlessly fascinating to think about. The way she lives a lie and yet really and truly loves and has a family. Seldom does a movie keep me thinking long afterwards as this did.

A Credible Story of Espionage, Drama, Love and Thriller Based on True Events

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 17 July 2014]

In Norway, Katrine Evensen Myrdal (Juliane Köhler) is a middle-aged woman happily married with Navy Commander Bjarte Myrdal (Sven Nordin). Katrine loves her daughter Anne (Julia Bache-Wiig) that is a single mother; her granddaughter Turid; and her mother Ase Evensen (Liv Ullmann) that helps Anne to raise Turid. Katrine's father was a German occupation soldier during the World War II and Katrine was taken by the German government and raised in the Sachsen Orphanage in East Germany. At the age of 20, Katrine escapes from East Germany and comes to Norway to meet her mother.

In November 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German lawyer Sven Solbach (Ken Duken) seeks Katrine and her mother out to give the testimony in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children. Katrine refuses to testify, but Ase accepts and turns the life of her daughter upside-down when Sven discloses hidden dark secrets from her life.

"Zwei Leben" is a spectacular German-Norwegian film with a credible story of espionage, drama, love and thriller based on true events unknown for great part of the world. The screenplay is very well written, disclosing the truth about the mysterious Katrine through flashbacks like a puzzle. The performances are top-notch, highlighting the fantastic German actress Juliane Köhler from "Aimée & Jaguar", "Nowhere in Africa" and "Downfall" among other great movies. It is different to see Liv Ullmann an old lady after so many movies by Ingmar Bergman. In the end, "Zwei Lebe" is a highly recommended movie with an engaging sad story. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Duas Vidas" ("Two Lives")

Excellent!

[ChristyLeskovar · 9/10 · 19 October 2014]

"Two Lives" is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I watched it on Netflix. It's a German movie that takes place in Norway shortly after reunification of Germany. Part of the story is about a woman, played by Liv Ullman, who fell in love with a German soldier during the war and they had a daughter. After the war, such women were shunned and the children sent to orphanages in Germany. To say more would give away too much. It's a masterfully written screenplay about fictional people, but such events did happen. One small part I could have skipped, otherwise an excellent portrayal of a sobering story. It's the kind of movie where you watch all the credits roll by at the end because you can't turn it off.

Great idea, scenery, and casting but bad plot

[bevin_brett · 5/10 · 15 July 2014]

Sadly the plot falls apart. The more you understand what has happened, the less plausible it is.

The seaside, buildings, mountains, etc. make for gorgeous background.

The characters are portrayed with depth and sympathy. Each deals appropriately with the stresses that they are under, and you can understand their actions.

The plot moves a long at a good pace, with flashbacks becoming clearer as the movie progresses.

But sadly when all is revealed, the plot has more holes than Romeo and Juliet. Coincidences, unlucky timing, unrealistic actions by professionals, ... it has them all.

Drama with historical content

[bandw · 9/10 · 1 February 2015]

This drama takes place in 1990, shortly after the demolition of the Berlin wall had begun. This was a time when a young Norwegian lawyer felt that there was a good chance of winning a lawsuit against the Norwegian Government for reparations for the children of the Nazi Lebensborn program. Begun in 1935 the goal of the Lebensborn program was to produce more Aryan children for the Third Reich, mainly by way of Nazi leaders producing plentiful offspring. The program was expanded to occupied countries whereby Nazis would mate with with local unmarried women with many, but not all, of the offspring brought back to Germany.

The story unfolded in a way to keep my interest. On the one hand Katrine, the main character, is seen as the wife of a Norwegian submarine captain--part of a close, happy family. But early on she is seen on a flight out of the country where she completely transforms her appearance. At that point I was hooked to find out what her story was and I appreciated the slow reveal leading to some intensely dramatic scenes. The story is complicated enough to make it hard to describe without revealing plot details.

I had never heard of the Nazi Lebensborn program and this movie shows how focusing on personal experiences can explicate history in a more attention grabbing way than reading a history book. I wish there had been more explanation of the basis for the lawsuit against the Norwegian government. A little research on the topic explains how shabbily, and even cruelly, the Lebensborn children were treated, with the assent of the Norwegian government.

All the actors are in fine form--it's good to see that age is not keeping Liv Ullman off the screen.

Complex story beautifully acted

[Bonz99 · 10/10 · 29 August 2014]

You can read summaries of this movie's plot line elsewhere. This movie is all about Juliane Kohler's heart-searing portrayal of a woman coming to terms with her past. For me, five stars on Netflix, ten stars on IMDb.

Some have written that the plot is implausible. It is not. It is fascinating. I had never before heard of Juliane Kohler until coming across this movie on Netflix, but I now expect to see everything I can find with her. She is absolutely riveting. Her astonishingly expressive face is the centerpoint of every scene. In fact, at nearly fifty years of age, she is more beautiful than photos I have seen of her in movies ten and twenty years earlier.

Too, Liv Ullman is wonderful as her mother. I haven't see Ms. Ullman since her films with Ingmar Bergman in the late 50's and 60's, followed by the wonderful "The Emigrants". She has been too long away from the camera.The rest of the cast is also excellent. But Ms. Kohler: oh my, oh my, oh my.

Gripping and emotional, never a dull moment

[MovieSonic · 9/10 · 1 January 2015]

I stumbled across this whilst looking for German language films and although it's mostly in Norwegian, I still had to watch because the plot sounded fascinating.

I thought I had it all figured out from the beginning and that I knew exactly how it would end. I was wrong.

When dealing with conspiracies and far-fetched seeming events, the best way to go about it is with subtlety and understatement. Juliane Köhler as the lead 'Katrine', manages to portray the urgency, danger and horror of the situation whilst still being sympathetic. I honestly didn't know who to feel most sorry for by the end of it all.

The only criticism I have (and hence why not 10/10), is that I would have liked to have seen more of the family and how they subsequently dealt with the tragic revelations.

I'm very glad I watched this and it's an easy recommendation from me.

9/10

Exactly who is Katrine?!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 12 October 2016]

To understand the plot in "Two Lives", perhaps a bit of a history lesson is in order. Back during WWII, the Nazis wanted to greatly increase the number of Aryans and in order to do so they created the 'Lebensborn' program. It was a series of maternity centers for young mothers and German soldiers were encouraged to impregnate good Aryan girls--both Germans, Norwegians and other 'acceptable' ethnic groups. Marriage was not a major concern...they just wanted babies..healthy Nordic looking babies for the Third Reich. In essence, these were state sponsored baby mills and the children were taken from their mothers to be raised by the state.

The story picks up around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. A young Norwegian lawyer has just approached Katrine (Juliane Köhler) about a lawsuit. It seems that Katrine and her mother are unique in that although her mother, Ase (Liv Ullman), was part of the Lebensborn program since she had married a German soldier and had a baby by him, she was unique because well after the war she is one of the only mothers who eventually found her child after she'd been forcibly taken by the Nazis. It seems that Katrine escaped communist East Germany as a young adult and eventually was reunited with her mother in Norway. Yet, inexplicably, many years later, Katrine is angry and wants nothing to do with this quest for justice...even though her mother is more than willing to cooperate. Why does Katrine demand secrecy and why does she go to Germany to destroy some of the Lebensborn records? Could Katrine actually be someone other than Ase's daughter? And, if so, why did she assume this woman's identity?

The most amazing thing about this film is that it's based on actual cases...cases where duplicates were sent back into Norway...duplicates which claimed to be children from the Lebensborn who were returning to their mothers! Overall, a fascinating and well made film--one that is well worth seeing and profoundly interesting as well as sad.

An understudied subject

[resireg · 9/10 · 19 March 2021]

The story has 2 elements that I find intriguing: East Germany spy network, and the post 1945 healing of Europe. In this movie they deal with both topics (plus the human impact in one family), but I believe that it would be better if the film focused on one topic only. First of all, why was DDR interested in Norway? What kind of intelligence were they seeking? And what happened with all the Stasi operatives after reunification?

I felt like the movie did not delved deep into those topics