Wings of Desire (1987)
"Der Himmel über Berlin" (original title)

An angel tires of overseeing human activity and wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal.

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Wim Wenders, Peter Handke (screenplay),

Stars:

Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 18 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruno Ganz	...	Damiel
Solveig Dommartin	...	Marion
Otto Sander	...	Cassiel
Curt Bois	...	Homer
Peter Falk	...	Der Filmstar
Hans Martin Stier	...	In weiteren Rollen - Der Sterbende
Elmar Wilms	...	In weiteren Rollen - Ein trauriger Mann
Sigurd Rachman	...	In weiteren Rollen - Der Selbstmörder
Beatrice Manowski	...	In weiteren Rollen - Das Strichmädchen
Lajos Kovács	...	Im Zirkus - Marion's Trainer
Bruno Rosaz	...	Im Zirkus - Der Clown
Laurent Petitgand	...	Im Zirkus - Der Kapellmeister
Chick Ortega	...	Im Zirkus - Der Schlagzeuger (as Chico Rojo Ortega)
Otto Kuhnle	...	Im Zirkus - Die Jongleure
Christoph Merg	...	Im Zirkus - Der Jongleure

Storyline

This Wim Wenders film centers around the story of two angels wandering in a mixture of post-war and modern Berlin. Invisible to humans, they nevertheless give their help and comfort to all the lonely and depressed souls they meet. Finally, after many centuries, one of the angels becomes unhappy with his immortal state and wishes to become human in order to experience the joys of everyday life. He meets a circus acrobat and finds in her the fufillment of all his mortal desires. He also discovers that he is not alone in making this cross over, and that a purely spiritual experience is not enough to satisfy anyone.

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Plot Keywords:

angel | circus | desire | love | flashback | 

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Taglines:

There are angels on the streets of Berlin.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

West Germany France

Language:

German English French Turkish Hebrew Spanish Japanese

Release Date:

6 May 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Sky Above Berlin

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Gross:

$3,806,540 (USA) (18 September 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Road Movies Filmproduktion, Argos Films, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) Black and White (partly)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Circus Alekan is named after cinematographer Henri Alekan.

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Goofs

The position of the trapeze artists' arms change after Bruno stands in her trailer.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[in German, using English subtitles]
Damiel: [voiceover] When the child was a child, it walked with its arms swinging. It wanted the stream to be a river, the river a torrent, and this puddle to be the sea. When the child was a child, it didn't know it was a child. Everything was full of life, and all life was one. When the child was a child, it had no opinion about anything, no habits. It often sat cross-legged, took off running, had a cowlick in its hair, and didn't make faces when ...

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated to all the former angels, but especially to Yasujiro, François and Andrej.

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Connections

References Columbo (1971)

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Soundtracks

"Les Filles du Calvaire"
by Laurent Petitgand

User Reviews

human life has value

In the first scenes after the opening credits, we see an aerial view of Berlin, but this is a Berlin that doesn't exist anymore. It's a city divided, between East and West, that still bears the scars of the second World War, and can't rebuild where the Wall stands in the way. There is a vast vacant lot where the cultural center of pre-war Berlin stood, with the facade of an old station, and nearby stands a bomb-shelter and the tower of a bombed-out church.

It is from this church where an angel stands looking out over the city, and then we see the people going about their daily lives. All this is shot in black and white, and we realize that we are seeing the world through the angel's eyes, seeing the same colorless world and hearing the same thoughts of the people around. As the story goes on, we realize that this is not just one angel in Berlin, for he goes to a car showroom, and compares observations with another angel. Then we go to the library, which is filled with angels.

The first library scene is my favorite scene of the whole movie. It is here where we see many different people studying, and their thoughts reverberate around the space until they are just a murmur, which becomes music. Because there are so few distinct voices, it doesn't matter that they are in German, which I don't understand. However, there was one young man studying the creation story of Genesis in Hebrew, which ties in with a later point where the two lead angels are discussing how they witnessed creation. First they saw the glacier recede, then fish and animals appear. They laughed when they saw the first biped, someone who shared their image, but they stopped laughing when the people learned how to make war.

As idyllic as the angels' lives are, it is through the pain we humans endure that know we are fully alive. And this is what the angels miss, to see colors, to touch, to taste, to smell, the ability to love and affect others' lives. The children can see them, but the adults may at times only feel some vague presence. They lay hands on people's shoulders, to try to understand their feelings beyond mere words. This is illustrated by a scene on a rooftop, where a man is about to commit suicide; as he sits on the ledge, an angel lays a hand on him as if holding him back, and when he jumps, the angel shouts `no!' For these angels are observers, spending their time being a presence among the living, not just to primarily serve as ushers to the afterlife (where I was sorely disappointed after watching "City of Angels," the American re-make). They are not harbingers of doom, but benign symbols of a creator's concern for humans.

Don't be turned off by the fact that it's in black and white, because one thing that really makes an impact is that it's only through viewing as an angel is it in monochrome, because when humans see the world, it's in color. A poem continues throughout the movie and ties everything together, repeating "When the child was a child..." and we realize that humans are the children, the ones younger than angels, just learning and enjoying life. The music adds a lot to the movie, since this film is more visual than verbal, which means that subtitles don't get in the way. I can't say enough about this film–it's wonderful!