The White Ribbon

2009 2h 24m DE

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🍅

85%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.8

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 1,185🍅85%Rotten Tomatoes●84Metacritic★7.8IMDB · 80,927

DramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An aged tailor recalls his life as the schoolteacher of a small village in Northern Germany that was struck by a series of strange events in the year leading up to WWI.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Christian Friedel
The School Teacher
Ernst Jacobi
The School Teacher as an Old Man (voice)
Leonie Benesch
Eva
Ulrich Tukur
The Baron
Fion Mutert
Sigmund
Ursina Lardi
Marie Louise
Burghart Klaußner
The Pastor
Steffi Kühnert
The Pastor's Wife

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Haneke
Writers: Michael Haneke, Michael Haneke
Languages: Italian, Polish, German
Countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 54% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Italian, Polish, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Haneke, shot by Christian Berger. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Monika Willi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Christian Friedel and Ernst Jacobi and Leonie Benesch carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1149362 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Haneke directs. Christian Berger behind the camera. Monika Willi cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Italy, Germany, Austria, France. Dialogue in Italian, Polish, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 54% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 17 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Italian, Polish, German.
4International production across 4 countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, France.
5Directed by Michael Haneke, shot by Christian Berger. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Monika Willi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Christian Friedel and Ernst Jacobi and Leonie Benesch carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt1149362 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 22 themes, including "child abuse", "authority", "pastor", "nanny".
10Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Christian Berger
Editing: Monika Willi
Production design: Christoph Kanter
Costume design: Moidele Bickel
Makeup / hair: Sandra Jethon
Sound: Jean-Pierre Laforce
Runtime: 144 min · 2h 24m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $21,555,450
Box office: $11,652,157
Return: 54% of budget
Original language: DE
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The White Ribbon (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 84/100
IMDB rating: 7.8/10 · 80,927 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 2 Oscars. 62 wins & 49 nominations total

Amanda Award for Best Foreign Feature Film
European Film Award for Best Screenwriter
European Film Award for Best Director
European Film Award for Best Film
Palme d'Or
Meeting Point Europe Award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Michael Haneke

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-05-12
★ 7/10
It all starts when the local doctor (Rainer Bock) is knocked from his horse by some wire carefully strung between two trees. Incapacitated and sent to the (not so) nearby hospital, his is just the start of some fairly brutal mishaps that befall this small rural community as Europe drifts towards the start of the Great War. It's a sort of feudal existence for this community were everything stems from the baron (Ulrich Tukur). When his young son is violently assaulted, tensions run high in the village and as more atrocities emerge they all start to turn on each other and suspicions run high. It might be, though, that the children of the pastor might hold the key. That's what the narrator, and rather naive teacher (Christian Friedl) eventually concludes, but as he investigates as surreptitiously as he can, we find a great deal more going on amidst a village of child molesting, cruelty, adultery and basically anything that could easily contribute to the negative mindset of those carrying out these acts of pretty calculated wickedness. Each of the villagers has their moment in the cinematic sun as we are taken, almost door to door, on a tour of their foibles and peccadilloes. It delivers quite a potent look at the almost, sometimes literal, incestuous nature of country life where people live in fear of losing their patronage and their survival depends on the harvest - and that depends on a God who is represented by Burghart Klaußner's enigmatically characterised pastor. This is a conflicted man more concerned with a status quo than necessarily with the truth. There is mystery here, but that rather fades into the background of quite a disturbing character study that is puzzling and intriguing.

Production companies