PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Annie Ring is Associate Professor of German and comparative film, literature and cultural theory at UCL, UK. Her research focuses on film, surveillance, technology and the politics of subjectivity. She is author of After the Stasi (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015). She is co-editor of Architecture and Control (2018), Uncertain Archives: Critical Keywords for Big Data (2021) and has contributed to The German Cinema Book (British Film Institute, 2020).
A considered study of the 2006 Oscar-winner. -- James Mottram * Total Film * What makes a classic film? Annie Ring offers intriguing answers to this question in an accessible and engaging volume with breath-taking range and intriguing depth. From surveillance to melodrama and from Brecht to Hitchcock, she covers the myriad facets of a modern-day classic, The Lives of Others. -- Barbara Mennel, University of Florida, USA This original and fascinating analysis makes a compelling case for including The Lives of Others in the canon of contemporary classic cinema. Anyone who has watched von Donnersmarck’s Stasi melodrama will profit from reading Annie Ring’s well-researched and accessible book. -- Daniela Berghahn, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Ring’s writing style is consistently clear, elegant and concise, making her arguments easy to follow and understand. Her passion for the topic is evident throughout the book, and she succeeds in arousing the reader’s interest in the film, its themes and its historical context … The Lives of Others is a well-researched and engaging analysis of a complex and thought-provoking film. Ring’s insights and analysis will be of interest not only to film scholars and students but also to anyone curious about the political and social dynamics of East Germany during the Cold War. -- Tina Stockman * Media Education Journal *
