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Despair (1978)
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Overview
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Director:
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Release Date:
20 September 1978 (France)
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Plot:
Germany in the early 1930s. Against the backdrop of the Nazis' rise, Hermann Hermann, a Russian émigré and chocolate magnate...
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Awards:
3 wins
&
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
Martin Amis on Vladimir Nabokov's work
(From The Guardian - Film News. 13 November 2009, 4:06 PM, PST)
(From The Guardian - Film News. 13 November 2009, 4:06 PM, PST)
User Comments:
Visually stunning, masterfully acted, brilliantly directedadaptation of a complex Nabokov novella.
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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 |
| Adrian Hoven | ... | Inspector Schelling |
| Roger Fritz | ... | Inspector Braun |
| Y Sa Lo | ... | Elsie |
| Armin Meier | ... | 1st and 2nd Twin and Foreman |
| Ingrid Caven | ... | Hotel receptionist |
| Voli Geiler | ... | Madam |
Additional Details
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Runtime:
119 min
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Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Trevor Howard was asked to play a major role.
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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.