Just fascinating… I was gripped and enthralled!

On Friday night, I had a lovely long dinner at Tanjore, followed by ice-cream at Christina’s, with Jason and Anna. It’s been a long time since I’ve had dinner at Tanjore (although I often go there for the buffet lunch, which is also excellent), and I’d forgotten how good it could be. We ordered all vegetarian food – including a few things I’d never had before: the Baigan Bhurta and the Malai Kofta (both are delicious). After ice cream, Anna went home, and Jason and I walked to Kendall to see The Lives of Others. I’d heard plenty of good things about this movie, and it really is worth seeing, but it is incredibly grim (and quite long, too – so you have to endure a lot of grimness). Whenever I see movies set in Communist regimes, it always strikes me as completely foreign to me. I guess it is my luck that I really have trouble imagining what it would be like to live in a Communist country.

It’s a long film (almost three hours), but the kind you don’t want to end and are secretly happy every time a fade out leads to another scene rather than the credits.

Beautifully done, with plenty of themes to chew on: the fragility of power, the role of spectator and actor, the conflict of emotion and responsibility.