Plot holes

None of these are plot holes.

1. Regular folks did not know how the Stasi bugged homes. Dreyman didn't know to look behind light switches until he was told by Hempf years later.

2. There is more going on in the interrogation scene than just what is said. He is trying to tell her with his eyes that she can trust him. He was hoping she wouldn't cave, but she did, so then to keep Dreyman from going to jail, he gets there before the rest of the Stasi to remove the typewriter. That was the only way to get Dreyman off the hook.

I don't think Christa would have been in trouble (had she lived) because there was hardly any time between when she got home and when the Stasi arrived. It was clear that the typewriter being gone was not because she tipped off Dreyman. Weisler's boss figured out that Weisler took it.


3. Go back and watch the scene where Hempf tells Grubitz to spy on Dreyman. He said the surveillance had to be VERY discreet because Dreyman had a lot of influential friends. They couldn't make a move on him until they had something concrete as a basis of charging him.


You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

1) If you actually check the light switches, that would be telling whoever was spying on them that they know they are being spied on. This is not really what you want to do if you want to stay low profiled.

2) He HAD to act because he was monitored by his boss. Whether he really wanted to tell her that even if she sell him out or not, that is not really certain. I would say that Dreyman was hoping her to keep the secret, since he knows her well (for the audience meant that she acts more like herself when she is on stage, she show be who she really is, be stronger than that) But either way, he is prepared for both consequences obviously.
you had to look at his eyes

3) that's because he isn't any high ranked profile guy, in politics, the one that will be framed would be the ones that are in high position.

Point number 2 is the biggest plot hole for me too.
Nobody can explain it properly.
It's as if the woman had to die for there to be a happy ending (otherwise she would have ended up in jail for perjury due to the missing typewriter).

1) The light switches hid microphones. Nobody - even had they known there were hidden mics - could have looked there without someone knowing about it. The noise would be obvious to listeners.

2) Wiesler has well and truly gone over by now. It's a stunt to keep his boos thinking he's still in the club but he wants to help her. Remember he has to cover his own tracks - all those reports in which he lies about what Dreyman and his colleagues are doing.

3) From the start he was considered politically "pure". It was only on Wiesler's recommendation that he was bugged at all. The bosses went along with it because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

No plot holes from where I'm looking.

Dude, the plot is based on real events

In response to your second problem, I think Weisler WAS TRYING to help Sieland. He kept using the phrase "your audience" during the interrogation, possibly trying to get her to remember when they met at the bar. I think he thought that if she could just place him, that she knew she'd be able to trust him. And when she didn't place him, he knew that he'd have to go through with coaxing the info out of her. He probably thought that once she spilled the beans, he could get the typewriter out and then deal with saving her later. That was my take anyway.

http://www.imdb.com/list/xlB8IuYFGdI/ My list of personal favorites, in progress

These are not plot holes as explained by our fellow users.

The only plot hole that I have seen was that Christa did not pay for her cognac at the bar after leaving when Weisler talked to her about her talent. She did not pay for it when she entered either. But maybe that was not a plot hole, I dunno.

Okay, here is my take on the problem no. 2, how I see it:

Weisler and Sieland were "acting" in the interrogation room.
Weisler was basically signaling to Sieland that, okay, tell me where the type writer was, and I would hide it. Dreyman would be saved. She just "feigned surprise" (Weisler's exact words,) saying something like: "Wait, where does the typewriter go? I remembered it was hiding in there?!" Or she would be prosecuted for perjury, and stayd in jail for only 2 years.
That's the best way out of the whole situation, or the best solution Weisler could think of at the moment.
Weisler simply couldn't save them both. It's either this or having Dreyman "disappeared" -- something both Weisler and Sieland didn't want to see. 2 years in jail was much, much better than having Dreyman dead.

Sieland either didn't understand the whole plan, and then kill herself for thinking she had indirectly sentenced her boyfriend to death.
Or she knew Weisler would help them, but still couldn't live with the guilt, the guilt of betraying her lover. Doing once was barely bearable. Twice was just too much. Even if it's a part of the plan. She felt that once being marked as an informant, she could never go back, back to the right side.