The Reader · written by David Hare · 2008

Michael acts out Huckleberry Finn while Hanna sews; they laugh together.

Scene 50 of 196 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct two

Begins 20 min into a 1:21 film

The story so farBefore scene 50

As a law student, Michael sees Hanna, his former lover, on trial for war crimes and must face the secret that shaped their teenage relationship.

Scenes 1–6
In 1995, Michael prepares breakfast for Brigitte, then is alone in his apartment and looks out the window.
Scenes 7–24
The sick schoolboy Michael accepts Hanna’s help and returns to her.
Scenes 25–35
Michael enters an intimate relationship with Hanna, organized around his reading to her.
Just before
Scene 47
Hanna asks Michael to read before they make love; he begins Schiller’s Intrigue and Love.
Scene 48
While Hanna bakes bread, Michael reads her the Odyssey and describes it as a journey.
Scene 49
Michael reads a Shakespeare sonnet to Hanna in the bath; she pulls him in with her.
Scene 50
This scene

50INT. HANNA’S APARTMENT. NIGHT

HANNA is sewing. MICHAEL is reading Huckleberry Finn.

MICHAEL

I poked into the place aways and

encountered a little open patch as

big as a bedroom, all hung around

with vines and found a man lying

there asleep, and by Jinks it was

my old Jim...

He starts acting out Jim, and the two of them collapse laughing.