SimilarScreen
Two Lives

Two Lives

She built one life on love, the other on deceit

20126.61h 37m

Overview

Europe 1990, the Berlin wall has just crumbled: Katrine, raised in East Germany, but now living in Norway for the last 20 years, is a “war child”; the result of a love relationship between a Norwegian woman and a German occupation soldier during World War II. She enjoys a happy family life with her mother, her husband, daughter and granddaughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to witness in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealments and secrets is unveiled, until Katrine is finally stripped of everything, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand: What carries more weight, the life they have lived together, or the lie it is based on?

Directed by Georg Maas
Written by Georg Maas, Christoph Tölle, Ståle Stein Berg
Produced by Rudi Teichmann, Dieter Zeppenfeld, Axel Helgeland
Box Office0Revenue: $1.6M

Top Cast

Juliane Köhler

Juliane Köhler

Katrine

Liv Ullmann

Liv Ullmann

Ase Evensen

Sven Nordin

Sven Nordin

Bjarte

Ken Duken

Ken Duken

Sven Solbach

Dennis Storhøi

Dennis Storhøi

Hogseth

Vicky Krieps

Vicky Krieps

Kathrin Lehnhaber

Rainer Bock

Rainer Bock

Hugo

Ursula Werner

Ursula Werner

Hiltrud

Jürgen Rißmann

Jürgen Rißmann

Lattoch

Julia Bache-Wiig

Julia Bache-Wiig

Anne

Themes & Keywords

germanyberlin wallnorwaytrial1990s

About Two Lives

Two Lives is a drama, thriller film released in 2012 exploring themes of germany, berlin wall, norway, trial, 1990s. Directed by Georg Maas, it stars Juliane Köhler, Liv Ullmann, Sven Nordin. Europe 1990, the Berlin wall has just crumbled: Katrine, raised in East Germany, but now living in Norway for the last 20 years, is a “war child”; the result of a love relationship between a Norwegian woman and a German occupation soldier during World War II. She enjoys a happy family life with her mother, her husband, daughter and granddaughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to witness in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealments and secrets is unveiled, until Katrine is finally stripped of everything, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand: What carries more weight, the life they have lived together, or the lie it is based on?

Movies Similar to Two Lives

Discover titles like Two Lives — ranked by similarity and community votes

We found 15 movies similar to Two Lives

If you enjoyed Two Lives, you'll love these handpicked recommendations. Each title below shares similar themes, tone, and storytelling style. Our algorithm analyzes genres, keywords, director filmography, and cast connections to find the closest matches. Whether you're looking for the same emotional depth, narrative structure, or visual style, these picks are curated to deliver the best viewing experience for fans of Two Lives.

The Lives of Others
35% Match

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

The Reader
32% Match

The Reader(2008)

Movie7.5/10

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.

The Tunnel
31% Match

The Tunnel(2001)

Movie7.1/10

Inspired by true events, Olympic swimmer Harry Melchior defects from East Germany in the 1960s and hatches a daring plot to help his sister and others flee East Berlin through a 145-yard underground tunnel.

Balloon
27% Match

Balloon(2018)

Movie7.5/10

Two families attempt a daredevil plan to escape the GDR with a homemade hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts investigations, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.

22 July
24% Match

22 July(2018)

Movie7.1/10

On 22 July 2011, neo-Nazi terrorist Anders Behring Breivik murdered 77 young people attending a Labour Party Youth Camp on Utøya Island outside of Oslo. This three-part story focuses on the survivors, the political leadership of Norway, and the lawyers involved.

Führer Ex
23% Match

Führer Ex(2002)

Movie6.2/10

Ingo Hasselbach, whose parents were Communist Party members in East Germany during his childhood, has lived at both ends of the political seesaw. The question of how people reach a change of heart is a profound one; Hasselbach describes the external forces that led to his founding Germany's first neo-Nazi political party and the internal ones that led him away from it five years later.

M
23% Match

M(1931)

Movie8.1/10

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

Watch on the Rhine
23% Match

On the eve of World War II, the German Kurt Müller, his American-born wife Sara, and their three children, having lived in Europe for years, visit Sara's wealthy mother near Washington, DC. Kurt secretly works for the anti-Nazi resistance. A visiting Romanian count, becoming aware of this, seeks to blackmail him.

Requiem
22% Match

Requiem(2006)

Movie6.6/10

Michaela, an epileptic, enrolls in college to study education. She goes off her medication and soon begins hearing voices and seeing apparitions that tell her to avoid religious objects, although she is devoutly Roman Catholic. One priest scoffs at the idea that Michaela could be possessed by demons, but a younger pastor arranges an exorcism for the young woman.

Wings of Desire
21% Match

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

Nerkonda Paarvai
21% Match

When three young women are harassed and implicated in a crime they didn't commit, a bipolar lawyer sets out to help them clear their names and prove it to everyone that a woman's consent matters.

Two to One
21% Match

Two to One(2024)

Movie6.3/10

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a communist family discovers a bunker full of money soon to be worthless. With the help of their neighbors, they embark on a race against time to enter the capitalist world in style.