Despair (1978) ( Despair - Eine Reise ins Licht )

Despair (1978) (Blu-Ray) (*)

~~$20.99~~ $14.97

Original Title: Despair - Eine Reise ins Licht
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( DTS-HD Master Audio )
French ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
German ( DTS-HD Master Audio )

Product Origin/Format:
France ( Blu-Ray/Region B )

Running Time:
121 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.66:1)

Special Features:
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Short Film
Trailer(s)
Remastered

Movie filmed in 1978 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Written By:
Tom Stoppard
Vladimir Nabokov

Actors:
Dirk Bogarde ..... Hermann Hermann
Andréa Ferréol ..... Lydia Hermann
Klaus Löwitsch ..... Felix Weber
Volker Spengler ..... Ardalion
Peter Kern ..... Müller
Alexander Allerson ..... Mayer
Gottfried John ..... Perebrodov
Hark Bohm ..... Doctor
Bernhard Wicki ..... Orlovius
Armin Meier ..... Silverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
Adrian Hoven ..... Inspector Schelling
Roger Fritz ..... Inspector Braun
Y Sa Lo ..... Elsie
Lilo Pempeit ..... Secretary Schmidt
Ingrid Caven ..... Hotel Manager

Synopsis:

Having made as many films as he had years, at 31, Rainer Werner Fassbinder essayed a slightly different approach for his 32nd film, Despair. Here, he uses a witty screenplay written by the well-known playwright Tom Stoppard, based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Furthermore, the entire film, set in 1930s Germany, is in English. In the story, a Russian owner of a German chocolate-factory, whose business and marriage are both on the rocks, fantasizes about leaving his current life, and living another one. Indeed, he has delusions that he is somehow outside himself, watching himself live his life. So strong is his desire to alter his life that when he encounters a tramp while on a brief business trip, he imagines that the man looks exactly like him, decides to exchange identities with the tramp, and murders him.

Germany in the early 1930s. Against the backdrop of the Nazis' rise, Hermann Hermann, a Russian émigré and chocolate magnate, goes slowly mad. It begins with his seating himself in a chair to observe himself making love to his wife, Lydia, a zaftig empty-headed siren who is also sleeping with her cousin. Hermann is soon given to intemperate outbursts at his workers, other businessmen, and strangers. Then, he meets Felix, an itinerant laborer, whom he delusionally believes looks exactly like himself. Armed with a new life insurance policy, he hatches an elaborate plot in the belief it will free him of all his worries.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 26 March, 2020.