Yesterday, we watched The Lives of Others on DVD, last year's winner of the Oscar for the best foreign language film. It's deliberately slow-paced, which really accentuates the details of oppression and human dilemma faced by East Germans living with the daily risk of visitation by the Stasi. It's beautifully filmed in tones of charcoal grey, with languorous music by Gabriel Yared, and a superbly understated and contained lead performance by Ulrich Mühe.

Reading about the film this morning, I discovered that Mühe died of stomach cancer exactly a year ago. So, a note of remembrance to him today, 22 July.