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Until the End of the World

Original title: Bis ans Ende der Welt
  • 1991
  • R
  • 4h 47m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
12K
YOUR RATING
William Hurt and Solveig Dommartin in Until the End of the World (1991)
Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video
Play trailer2:27
1 Video
56 Photos
CyberpunkEpicSci-Fi EpicActionDramaSci-FiThriller

Claire and Eugene's relationship is falling apart, while a nuclear satellite threatens to fall out of orbit and destroy Earth. Claire travels the world when she meets Sam, a man with connect... Read allClaire and Eugene's relationship is falling apart, while a nuclear satellite threatens to fall out of orbit and destroy Earth. Claire travels the world when she meets Sam, a man with connections to technology that could change everything.Claire and Eugene's relationship is falling apart, while a nuclear satellite threatens to fall out of orbit and destroy Earth. Claire travels the world when she meets Sam, a man with connections to technology that could change everything.

  • Director
    • Wim Wenders
  • Writers
    • Peter Carey
    • Wim Wenders
    • Solveig Dommartin
  • Stars
    • William Hurt
    • Solveig Dommartin
    • Pietro Falcone
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    12K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Wim Wenders
    • Writers
      • Peter Carey
      • Wim Wenders
      • Solveig Dommartin
    • Stars
      • William Hurt
      • Solveig Dommartin
      • Pietro Falcone
    • 103User reviews
    • 43Critic reviews
    • 63Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Until The End of the World
    Trailer 2:27
    Until The End of the World

    Photos56

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    Top cast59

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    William Hurt
    William Hurt
    • Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
    Solveig Dommartin
    Solveig Dommartin
    • Claire Tourneur
    Pietro Falcone
    • Mario
    Enzo Turrin
    • Doctor
    Chick Ortega
    • Chico Rémy
    Eddy Mitchell
    Eddy Mitchell
    • Raymond Monnet
    Adelle Lutz
    Adelle Lutz
    • Makiko
    Ernie Dingo
    Ernie Dingo
    • Burt
    Jean-Charles Dumay
    • Mechanic
    • (as Jean Charles Dumay)
    Sam Neill
    Sam Neill
    • Eugene Fitzpatrick
    Ernest Berk
    • Anton Farber
    Christine Oesterlein
    • Irina Farber
    • (as Christine Österlein)
    Rüdiger Vogler
    Rüdiger Vogler
    • Phillip Winter
    Diogo Dória
    Diogo Dória
    • Receptionist
    • (as Diogo Doria)
    Amália Rodrigues
    Amália Rodrigues
    • Woman in Street Car
    • (as Amalia Rodrigues)
    Elena Prudnikova
    • Krasikova
    • (as Elena Smirnova)
    Jinzhan Zhang
    • Truck Driver
    • (as Zhang Jinzhan)
    Naoto Takenaka
    Naoto Takenaka
    • Custodian
    • Director
      • Wim Wenders
    • Writers
      • Peter Carey
      • Wim Wenders
      • Solveig Dommartin
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews103

    6.811.9K
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    Featured reviews

    9marcus-175

    A difficult film at first, but so is all good literature

    The vast majority of people I know have never understood this film. Probably this is because the 2.5 hour running time of the original release is actually vastly too short for the story. The director's cut is a whopping 4.5 hours, but goes by so quickly one hardly notices. If you are bored, then you probably haven't figured out what's really going on. Some notes:

    This is a story of trials, of how our relationships to each other, and to humanity and the Earth, are shaped and impeded by technology. It is a fearful story of the dangers of our world as Wenders saw them in almost 20 years ago now. The journey is central here (as it is in almost all epic works) and the story doesn't work without seeing that journey unfold first all over the earth (and no, it wasn't about sponsoring nations--the journey of Sam and Claire et al reenacts other journeys only alluded to in the film, bringing up themes of connectedness to family and place.)

    To me the most important theme in this film is the power of the journey and of stories to transform us--a theme so old we may be tired of it, though it remains relevant today. Eugene (Neill) is to me the central character, and any good viewing of the movie depends on understanding how he fits in as more than a side character caught up in a great chase.

    One last note: this doesn't deserve to be described as Sci-Fi. Yes, there's some science-like imagery in it, but the thrust of the movie is literary. The "science-fiction" in the movie serves only as an extension of the transformations and journeys of the characters. It turns those things inward rather than outward, and succeeds well in doing it. A truly remarkable and excellent film that got a bad first screening because no distributor had the guts to put out a 5 hour movie. (What would they say to Akira Kurosawa these days?)
    7gavin6942

    Bizarre Film

    Set in 1999, a woman (Solveig Dommartin) has a car accident with some bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the bank money to a drop in Paris. On the way she runs into another fugitive from the law (William Hurt), an American who is being chased by the CIA.

    Wenders realized the film would be too long for the commercial distribution, so he kept control of the unedited film rather than surrendering it to distributors. After the film's theatrical release, Wenders worked with multiple copies and, with Sam Neill, recording additional narration, completed a 280-minute version. The longer cut, which Wenders regards as the definitive version of the film, unfolds as a trilogy and is presented in three parts (the titles appear three different times).

    The version I saw was around 150 minutes. If it were any longer, it would definitely need to be broken up into parts. It is a bit confusing, and definitely strange. This is science fiction, but not your typical kind. Really more off the wall, artistically sci-fi, like "Alphaville".
    10BillW

    An grand and inspiring adventure

    I have only seen the full-length 280-minute "trilogy" version of this film (at the 2001 USA Film Festival in Dallas), and I honestly cannot identify any sequences that could be cut without seriously compromising the flow of the story.

    This film works so well on so many different levels -- an adventure, a love story, a question of ethics and technology, life and death, love and family, but mostly it explores the question, "how far must we travel (or how long must we sit in the theater) to find that which we seek, and what exactly is it we're seeking anyway"?

    Yes, 4-1/2 hours is a long time to sit still (although, with two intermissions it's not all that bad), but for those of us who enjoy a good film that's not made from a pat formula of committee-designed ingredients in strictly regulated proportions, it's worth every minute.
    9devojane1

    You don't know the half of it...

    The first 2 times I saw this film (on video), I fell asleep before the end. I thought the beginning was great, though, so I kept at it. When I finally saw the whole thing, I still thought it was pretty good, although rather disjointed. On the whole, I would agree with many other Imdb user comments (too long, incoherent, two movies in one, excellent soundtrack, etc.) That was before I saw the _whole_ movie.

    I had been watching the 158-minute American version and the 179-minute European version (almost indistinguishable) I had heard about the 280-minute "Trilogy" version 4 or 5 years ago when it was screened at the American Cinemateque (sp?) and when I read that it was to be screened again Jan 14 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, I figured that a 5-hour (with 2 10-min. intermissions) version would be bloated and slow. I couldn't have been more wrong!

    "Die Trilogie" version of "Bis ans Ende der Welt" (prepared for German released w/ no subtitles) was one of the best movies ever! The extra footage gave more room to the story, the music, and ultimately made for a much more coherent movie. The relationship between Claire and Eugene is better explained, among other things. The Indian satelite is not ignored, like in the "Reader's Digest Version" (Wim Wenders' term). Songs heard for 10 seconds originally are now presented in their full glory, including a previously deleted version of Elvis Costello's "Days" performed by Solveig Dommartin, Chick Ortega, Ernie Dingo, Charlie McMahon, and David Gulpilil.

    According to the director, this version will be released on DVD in Europe in 2001, and possibly in the USA before 2002. I hope everyone can have a chance to see the complete, non-mutilated version of this wonderful movie!
    brittandthatsall

    Another View

    Wenders takes the time to take us to another place that is right beside where you are now, whether you know it or not. Beautifully shot and scored, the movie rewards those that allow it to unfold rather than showing you the plot in the first 15 minutes. With an emphasis on personal emotions rather than "screen presence", the actors reveal much about us all- no super-heroes here.

    Granted it is a long film by "American" standards but who can say how long a film should be? I felt transported to the times & places Wenders takes us, to me this makes a successful film regardless of its length. The storyline is well crafted and the music editing is brilliant; when I hear the music today I think of the film and not the bands that performed it.

    William Hurt has a role (finally) that suits his personality. The pairing of Jeanne Moreau and Max Van Sydow is brilliant. Definitely a movie that should be seen at least once in your lifetime.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Wim Wenders' original rough cut for this film was twenty hours long.
    • Goofs
      When several of the European characters leave the Mbantua settlement to take a group photo, believing the adventure to be over, the voice-over mentions that it's February, 2000. Yet shortly after, as Henry Farber is trying a new series of experiments on recording dream imagery, a computer display for the current experiment shows January 21.
    • Quotes

      Eugene Fitzpatrick: [voice over] Soon they were hooked; all of them. They lived to see their dreams, and when they slept they dreamed about their dreams. They had arrived at the island of dreams together; but in a short time they were oceans apart. I watched helplessly as Claire and Sam were drowning in their own nocturnal imagery. They ignored each other, and neglected themselves. The dreams which should have been flushed away with the first yawn, were now their only diet; and thus became more and more concentrated. They made monsters for themselves that they could neither tolerate nor do without... They wandered in and out of lost worlds. Feelings and figures emerged from a forgotten past. Their dreams became black holes of isolation... They suffered, finally; from a complete loss of reality.

    • Alternate versions
      The film exists in four separate versions. The first is the significantly cut American 158-minute version released by Warner Bros. in theaters, and on VHS, LaserDisc, and some streaming platforms. Wenders has disparagingly referred this cut as the 'reader's digest version'. The second is a 179-minute cut that existed only on Japanese LaserDisc. The third is Wim Wenders' director's cut, which runs 300 minutes. This cut significantly expands scenes, motivates Claire's romantic involvement with Sam Farber and keeps it from seeming less frivolous and more the expression of a wounded heart, additional scenes in Japan, and in San Francisco with Allen Garfield as an evil car salesman (a take-off on his character in another Wenders film), and numerous other expansions/additions. This full-length version divided the film into three parts, all given episode names, and all with opening credits because it was originally intended for this version to be shown as three separate films, or as a mini-series. This 300-minute cut was only available on DVD in Germany, Italy and France. It was screened several times over the years in America and the UK: the National Film Theatre in London on Saturday 2nd July 1994, December 6, 1996 at the University of Washington, with director Wim Wenders attending, Jan. 14, 2001 at the American Cinematheque (with Wenders attending), February 24, 2001 at the Directors Guild of America Theater with Wenders announcing the film would be released on DVD.
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Memo to the Academy - 1992 (1992)
    • Soundtracks
      Opening Titles
      Written by Graeme Revell

      Performed by David Darling (cello solo)

      Courtesy of Trans Glide Music BMI

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    FAQ21

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 25, 1991 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Germany
      • France
      • Australia
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Criterion Channel
      • Criterion Collection
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
      • Italian
      • Japanese
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Hasta el fin del mundo
    • Filming locations
      • Tosca Cafe - 242 Columbus Avenue, North Beach, San Francisco, California, USA(Claire meets Sam again)
    • Production companies
      • Argos Films
      • Road Movies Filmproduktion
      • Village Roadshow Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $23,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $829,625
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $38,553
      • Dec 29, 1991
    • Gross worldwide
      • $829,625
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      4 hours 47 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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