
Never Look Away
2018 · Movie · R · 188 min · ★ 7.7 · 73% critics
A young German artist builds a new life after leaving East Germany for the West, but memories of growing up under Nazi rule and later state control won’t let go. As he searches for his own voice, love, politics, and art collide across decades of upheaval and change.
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Details
- Original title
- Werk ohne Autor
- Years
- 2018
- Release date
- 2018-10-03
- Language
- German
- Rated
- R
- Runtime
- 188 min
- Critic score
- 73/100
- TMDB rating
- 7.7/10 (754 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a sweeping, emotionally intense drama about art, history, and personal truth that stays gripping even at a long runtime; Not for you if you want something light, fast, or low on nudity and harsh wartime themes.
Pros: engrossing epic storytelling; moving love story; strong performances | Cons: very long runtime; heavy themes and brutality; some character thinness
Themes
- germany
- world war ii
- painter
- dresden, germany
- art gallery
- adolf hitler
Awards & recognition
- Bavarian Film Awards · 2019
- Leiden International Film Festival · 2018
- Academy Award — Best International Feature Film · 2019 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Cinematography · 2019 · nominated
- Golden Globe Award — Best Non-English Language Film · 2019 · nominated
Show all 8 awards →
- International Submission to the Academy Awards · 2019 · nominated
- Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association · 2018 · nominated
- Golden Lion · 2018 · nominated
Cast & crew

Tom Schilling
as Kurt Barnert

Sebastian Koch
as Carl Seeband

Paula Beer
as Ellie

Saskia Rosendahl
as Elisabeth May

Oliver Masucci
as Antonius van Verten
- CC
Cai Cohrs
as Six-Year-Old Kurt Barnert

Ina Weisse
as Martha Seeband

Evgeniy Sidikhin
as Major Murawjow

Mark Zak
as Murawjow Interpreter

Ulrike C. Tscharre
as Miss Hellthaler
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck