Filme von Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Despair – Eine Reise ins Licht (Despair)

Should Hermann (Dirk Bogarde) spend his life producing chocolate? An exiled Russian, he has an elegant apartment in Berlin, where he has been living for years. He drives a snazzy little car – a convertible. He is married to Lydia (Andrea Ferréol), a not-so-smart but devoted and absolutely desirable woman. The administration of his firm only keeps him busy a few hours a day. Business stagnates. Presumably a result of the global economic crisis that does not really upset Hermann. Recently, Hermann has the feeling that he could leave his body, step beside it and observe himself. One evening he leaves the living room door open so he, who sits in the living room, can observe how he and Lydia make love. This state of being becomes an addiction for him. He would love to perfect his ability to double himself, would like to bring it to an extreme and to refine it, like it was a creative gift. On a business trip, Hermann meets the tramp Felix (Klaus Löwitsch). He is convinced that Felix is identical to him in all his physical details and they agree to stay in touch by mail (general delivery). Although the existence of his double at first irritates Herman, it becomes a source of inspiration to him after he returns home. What would it be like if he could disappear in order to begin a new life as someone else? Herman plans the perfect and gratifying rebirth for which a tramp is to die – his journey towards light.

Weltvertrieb
Bavaria Media

Verleih (D)
Bavaria Media

Produktionsjahr
1977/78
Regie
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Buch
Tom Stoppard, based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov
Kamera
Michael Ballhaus
Musik
Peer Raben
Schnitt
Juliane Lorenz, Franz Walsch (i. e. Rainer Werner Fassbinder); rough cut (3 hours): Reginald Beck
Ausstattung
Rolf Zehetbauer
Kostüme
Dagmar Schauberger
Besetzung
Dirk Bogarde (Hermann Hermann) Andrea Ferréol (Lydia) Volker Spengler (Ardalion) Klaus Löwitsch (Felix) Alexander Allerson (Mayer) Bernhard Wicki (Orlovius) Peter Kern (Müller) Gottfried John (Perebrodov) Adrian Hoven (Inspector Schelling) Roger Fritz (Inspector Braun) Hark Bohm (doctor) Y Sa Lo (Elsie) Liselotte Eder (secretary) Armin Meier (foreman / actor in a silent movie) Isolde Barth (woman in the pension) Ingrid Caven (employee at the hotel) Voli Geiler Harry Baer
Produktion
NF Geria II Film, in collaboration with SFP, Paris, produced by Bavaria Atelier
Format
35 mm, color, 119 min.