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Despair

  • 19781978
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
Despair (1978)
In early-1930s Berlin, an elegant Russian émigré and eccentric chocolatier convinces himself that he has seen his doppelgänger, and hatches a murderous plan to trade his existence for an entirely new one. Will he get over the deep despair?
Play trailer2:23
1 Video
86 Photos
  • Drama
  • History
In early-1930s Berlin, an elegant Russian émigré and eccentric chocolatier convinces himself that he has seen his doppelgänger, and hatches a murderous plan to trade his existence for an ent... Read allIn early-1930s Berlin, an elegant Russian émigré and eccentric chocolatier convinces himself that he has seen his doppelgänger, and hatches a murderous plan to trade his existence for an entirely new one. Will he get over the deep despair?In early-1930s Berlin, an elegant Russian émigré and eccentric chocolatier convinces himself that he has seen his doppelgänger, and hatches a murderous plan to trade his existence for an entirely new one. Will he get over the deep despair?
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Writers
    • Tom Stoppard(screenplay)
    • Vladimir Nabokov(novel "Otchayaniye")
  • Stars
    • Dirk Bogarde
    • Andréa Ferréol
    • Klaus Löwitsch
Top credits
  • Director
    • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Writers
    • Tom Stoppard(screenplay)
    • Vladimir Nabokov(novel "Otchayaniye")
  • Stars
    • Dirk Bogarde
    • Andréa Ferréol
    • Klaus Löwitsch
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 15User reviews
    • 32Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:23
    Trailer

    Photos86

    Dirk Bogarde and Klaus Löwitsch in Despair (1978)
    Dirk Bogarde in Despair (1978)
    Despair (1978)
    Dirk Bogarde and Klaus Löwitsch in Despair (1978)
    Dirk Bogarde, Andréa Ferréol, and Bernhard Wicki in Despair (1978)
    Despair (1978)
    Dirk Bogarde and Andréa Ferréol in Despair (1978)
    Dirk Bogarde, Andréa Ferréol, and Volker Spengler in Despair (1978)
    Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Despair (1978)
    Michael Ballhaus and Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Despair (1978)
    Rainer Werner Fassbinder at an event for Despair (1978)
    Despair (1978)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Dirk Bogarde
    Dirk Bogarde
    • Hermanas Herman
    Andréa Ferréol
    Andréa Ferréol
    • Lydiaas Lydia
    Klaus Löwitsch
    Klaus Löwitsch
    • Felixas Felix
    Volker Spengler
    Volker Spengler
    • Ardalionas Ardalion
    Armin Meier
    • Silvermanas Silverman…
    Peter Kern
    Peter Kern
    • Mülleras Müller
    Adrian Hoven
    Adrian Hoven
    • Inspector Schellingas Inspector Schelling
    Alexander Allerson
    Alexander Allerson
    • Mayeras Mayer
    Hark Bohm
    Hark Bohm
    • Doctoras Doctor
    Roger Fritz
    Roger Fritz
    • Inspector Braunas Inspector Braun
    Gottfried John
    Gottfried John
    • Perebrodovas Perebrodov
    Y Sa Lo
    • Elsieas Elsie
    Lilo Pempeit
    • Secretary Schmidtas Secretary Schmidt
    Ingrid Caven
    Ingrid Caven
    • Hotel Manageras Hotel Manager
    Voli Geiler
    • 1st Landladyas 1st Landlady
    Isolde Barth
    Isolde Barth
    • 2nd Landladyas 2nd Landlady
    Bernhard Wicki
    Bernhard Wicki
    • Orloviusas Orlovius
    Harry Baer
    Harry Baer
    • Innkeeperas Innkeeper
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
    • Writers
      • Tom Stoppard(screenplay)
      • Vladimir Nabokov(novel "Otchayaniye")
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This movie cost more than all of Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's previous movies combined.
    • Goofs
      Though the movie is set in Weimar Germany in the early 1930s, at 1:15:15, Hermann Hermann smokes a filtered cigarette, and those were put on the market in the 1950s.
    • Connections
      Featured in Dirk Bogarde: By Myself (1992)

    User reviews15

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Interesting but not a major Fassbinder film
    One would expect a combination of Nabokov and Stoppard would result in amazing cinema. Unfortunately, "Despair" does not count as great cinema, not even as a great Fassbinder film, even though it is a rare Fassbinder film made in English with a German locale. (The problems are similar to Malick's "A Hidden Life": here, too, people except Bogarde, speak English with a heavy German accent.)

    Vladimir Nabokov wrote his novel "Despair" as a spoof of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment." The script includes lines referring to Dostoyevsky and Arthur Conan Doyle. "Despair" the film falls short of achieving/adapting the greatness of Dostoevsky or Conan Doyle. It is possibly because for Nabokov and Fassbinder the mental state of Herman (Bogarde) is paramount than the tale itself.

    The audience struggles to come to terms with a clean shaven Herman suddenly sporting an elegant moustache in between sequences. If it was a fake moustache, the audience is not prepared for it by Fassbinder. Or were scenes edited out in the final cut?

    Fassbinder was evidently quite familiar with Nabokov. Nabokov wrote Lolita with a lead character named Humbert Humbert. Fassbinder extrapolates the idea in "Despair" (or was it Stoppard?) by calling the lead character in "Despair" Herman Hermann, when Nabokov called him just Herman.

    If there was one outstanding aspect in this film it was cinematographer Michael Ballhaus working with mirrors and glass panes in doors. One great shot, creditable to Fassbinder and Ballhaus, was of two Jews continuing to play chess at the street cafe as a Jewish shop is attacked by Nazis followed much later in the film by a distinctly similar shot of the same Jewish duo playing chess with non-distinctive clothes.

    Another important aspect of the film is Fassbinder 's dedication of this quaint work to three mentally unstable geniuses: Antonin Artaud (the actor/playwright who introduced The Theatre of Cruelty) , Vincent Van Gogh (the painter who cut off his ear) and Unica Zurn (a painter famous for her paintings of torsos bound with string). And lastly several actors in this film and those supposed to play originally in the film were openly gay as was the director..
    helpful•3
    1
    • JuguAbraham
    • Mar 27, 2020

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 20, 1978 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • West Germany
      • France
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Desesperación
    • Filming locations
      • Bavaria Studios, Bavariafilmplatz 7, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany
    • Production companies
      • Bavaria Atelier
      • Bavaria Film
      • Filmverlag der Autoren
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • DEM 6,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $8,144
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $11,623
      • Feb 16, 2003
    • Gross worldwide
      • $8,144
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 59 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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