The Reader exclusive screening at Ayala Cinemas

MANILA, Philippines - From Stephen Daldry, the Academy Award-nominated director of The Hours and Billy Elliot comes The Reader, the story of a boy growing up in post-war Germany whose early stirrings of love involve a mysterious older woman hiding a shameful past and a deeply personal secret.

Starring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes and David Kross, The Reader will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4 and Greenbelt 3) starting today.

The Reader opens in post-WWII Germany when a teenager Michael Berg (Kross) becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna (Winslet), a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair.

Michael discovers Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her The Odyssey, Huck Finn and The Lady with the Little Dog. Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears and Michael is left confused and heartbroken.

Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life — this time as a defendant in the courtroom.

The story of The Reader touches on the deeply transformative power of words and literacy. So it seems fitting that the film originated with a lyrically simple, yet emotionally jarring book — “a formally beautiful, disturbing and, finally, morally devastating novel,” according to the Los Angeles Times.