"Truer than the Real Thing": "Real" and "Hyperreal" Representations of the Past in Das Leben der Anderen

With his 2006 film Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others), writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck asserted that he had "created a GDR that is truer than the real thing, that is realer than the actual GDR." In this article, I show that while Das Leben der Anderen strives to be an authentic representation of the past through its incorporation of real props and on-site filming, it in fact shows a reality that is "hyperreal." Despite the film's various claims to authenticity, its plot serves as a subtext that exposes the very concepts of "truth" and "reality" as, at best, elusive ideals.