From Stephen Daldry, the Academy Award nominated director of THE HOURS and based on the award-winning novel, THE READER is a mesmerizing story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, set against the landscape of post-war Germany. When he falls ill on his way home from school, 15 year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna (Kate Winslet), a woman twice his age. The two begin an unexpected and passionate affair only for Hanna to suddenly and inexplicably disappear. Eight years later, Michael, now a young law student observing Nazi war trials, meets his former lover again, under very different circumstances. Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime, and as she refuses to defend herself, Michael gradually realizes his boyhood love may be guarding a secret she considers to be more shameful than murder. THE READER is a deeply moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful story that speaks straight to the heart.