Despair (1978)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Tom Stoppard (screenplay), Vladimir Nabokov (novel)

Stars:

Dirk Bogarde, Andréa Ferréol, Klaus Löwitsch

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dirk Bogarde	...	Herman
Andréa Ferréol	...	Lydia
Klaus Löwitsch	...	Felix
Volker Spengler	...	Ardalion
Armin Meier	...	Silverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
Peter Kern	...	Müller
Adrian Hoven	...	Inspector Schelling
Alexander Allerson	...	Mayer
Hark Bohm	...	Doctor
Roger Fritz	...	Inspector Braun
Gottfried John	...	Perebrodov
Y Sa Lo	...	Elsie
Lilo Pempeit	...	Secretary Schmidt
Ingrid Caven	...	Hotel Manager
Voli Geiler	...	1st Landlady

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

despair | cult director | based on novel | independent film

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

West Germany France

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 September 1978 (France)

Also Known As:

Despair - Eine Reise ins Licht

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Atelier, Bavaria Film, Filmverlag der Autoren

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Trevor Howard was asked to play a major role.

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Connections

Featured in The Cinema and its Double - Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 'Despair' Revisited (2011)

User Reviews

Visually stunning, masterfully acted, brilliantly directedadaptation of a complex Nabokov novella.

It's hard for me to stay away from excessive use of superlatives when commenting on what I consider to be Fassbinder's masterpiece. Michael Ballhaus has filmed more than a dozen Fassbinder films, and Despair is a fine example of the value of their collaboration. Several images are stunningly memorable: the water dripping on the eggshells in the sink; the circular tracking shot through the glass walls of Hermann Hermann's office revealing him in his cage; and the auto-voyeurism of Hermann watching himself in bed with his voluptuous, vacant Frau. Doing justice to Nabokov's compelling dialog and canny character studies has been well done before in Kubrick's Lolita, but Tom Stoppard's rendition here was a perfect match for Fassbinder's (and Ballhaus's) visual feast. And if you are somehow not yet a fan of Dirk Bogarde, seeing his performance in Despair will surely make you as ardent an admirer of his work as I have become.