Overview
A poignant exploration of love and freedom in a time of oppression.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- austere
- intimate
- arthouse film night
- lgbtq cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as an intelligent, sensitive, and beautifully crafted account of queer persecution, endurance, and human connection.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Hans repeatedly returns to prison across decades, with the narrative moving between different stages of his imprisonment and relationships.
Viktor’s tattoo work covers Hans’s camp number, making the body a site of suppressed memory and identity.
Hans is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175 for homosexual encounters, while his relationships develop under systemic persecution.
Hans and Viktor begin as an unlikely pairing shaped by Viktor’s homophobia and gradually exchange care, exposure, and need.
Films like Great Freedom, and why
A Fantastic Woman
shared queer historical drama, institutional oppression, and intimate emotional realism
The Imitation Game
shared lgbtq period drama, criminalized desire, and restrained romantic intensity
The Shawshank Redemption
shared prison setting, male vulnerability, and slowly developing human connection
Benediction
shared queer historical repression, austere visual style, and tragic tenderness
Movie Details
- Director
- Sebastian Meise
- Release Date
- 2021-11-18
- Runtime
- 116 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (211)
Cast
- Franz Rogowski
- Georg Friedrich
- Anton von Lucke
- Thomas Prenn
- Thomas Stecher
- Alfred Hartung
- Thomas Wehling
- Mex Schlüpfer
- David Burnell IV
- Fabian Stumm
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Great Freedom about?
- Across decades of imprisonment in post-war Germany, a persecuted gay man finds fragile companionship with the cellmate who initially rejects him.
- What is Great Freedom like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Great Freedom as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Great Freedom violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Great Freedom as moderate.
- What did critics think of Great Freedom?
- Critics broadly praised the film as an intelligent, sensitive, and beautifully crafted account of queer persecution, endurance, and human connection.
- Which films are like Great Freedom?
- Films with a similar feel include A Fantastic Woman, The Imitation Game, The Shawshank Redemption, and Benediction.
- How long is Great Freedom?
- Great Freedom runs 116 minutes.
- Where can I watch Great Freedom?
- In United States, Great Freedom streams on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel.
