"The Reader"
Dir. Stephen Daldry
R, 135 min.
Opens Feb. 27

Kate Winslet won the Oscar for Best Female Lead for her role in "The Reader" as Hanna Schmitz, an ex-S.S. guard who begins an affair with a much younger man in the years after WWII. However, "The Reader" lost out for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. And, deservedly so.

"The Reader" is a film full of gorgeous, powerful performances. Unfortunately, those performances ultimately feel hollow because the film gives them nowhere to go.

Hanna is working on a tram in Germany when she crosses paths with Michael Berg (David Kross), a high school student 20 years her junior. They begin a summer-long sexual affair that ends when Hanna abruptly vanishes, jilting young Michael.

This first third of the "The Reader" works rather well as a romance and gives space for both Winslet and Kross to shine. The scenes of sexual intimacy between Hanna and Michael are exhilarating and feel true to life.

It is the following two-thirds of the film, when "The Reader" tries to grow beyond its simple romantic core, that the film starts to crumble.

The audience joins Michael as a university law student who must cope with the discovery that Hanna, his brief lover who remains a constant weight on his mind, is on trial for crimes committed while employed as a member of the Nazi S.S. The film then skips ahead to a middle-aged Michael (Ralph Fiennes) still struggling to deal with what the affair and trial meant and how to gain closure.

In these scenes, the simple drama of the cross-generational romance is discarded in favor of grander moral dilemmas that are never fully explored. A this point, the movie loses its identity and unravels into a seemingly endless string of dull, overworked emotionality.

Having said that, Winslet's performance is indeed Oscar-worthy and Kross more than holds his own. For those wishing to watch a well-acted romance, "The Reader" has at least something to offer.