The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.
Kate Winslet
as Hanna Schmitz
Ralph Fiennes
as Michael Berg
David Kross
as Young Michael Berg
Lena Olin
as Rose Mather
Bruno Ganz
as Professor Rohl
Jeanette Hain
as Brigitte
Hannah Herzsprung
as Julia
Karoline Herfurth
as Marthe
Volker Bruch
as Dieter Spenz
Alexandra Maria Lara
as Young Ilana Mather
Fabian Busch
as Hanna's Defense Council
Vijessna Ferkic
as Sophie