Until the End of the World (1991)

In 1999, Claire's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash. She rescues Sam and starts traveling around the world with him. Writer Eugene follows them and writes their story, as a way of recording dreams is being invented.

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Peter Carey (screenplay), Wim Wenders (screenplay)

Stars:

William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Pietro Falcone

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Solveig Dommartin	...	Claire Tourneur
Pietro Falcone	...	Mario
Enzo Turrin	...	Arzt
Chick Ortega	...	Chico Rémy
Eddy Mitchell	...	Raymond Monnet
William Hurt	...	Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
Adelle Lutz	...	Makiko
Ernie Dingo	...	Burt
Jean-Charles Dumay	...	Automechaniker
Sam Neill	...	Eugene Fitzpatrick
Ernest Berk	...	Anton Farber
Christine Oesterlein	...	Irina Farber
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Phillip Winter
Diogo Dória	...	Hotelportier
Amália Rodrigues	...	Frau in Strassenbahn (as Amalia Rodrigues)

Storyline

Set in 1999, a woman (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 (Hurt), an American who is being chased by the CIA. The charges are false, he claims. They want to confiscate a device his father invented which allows anyone to record their dreams and vision. On the run from both the bank robbers and the CIA, the couple span the globe, ending up in Australia at his father's (von Sydow) research facility, where they hope to play back the recordings Hurt captured for his blind mother. Set in the futuristic year of 1999, a subplot about a damaged Indian nuclear satellite crashing and causing the end of civilization is a puzzling addition to the film.

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Plot Keywords:

bank robber | dream | australia | end of the millennium | national security | 

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Taglines:

It's 1999. The government will kill for his invention. One woman will do anything for his love. Together they share an adventure that circles the globe - And invades the mind.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sensuality

Details

Country:

Germany France Australia

Language:

English French Italian Japanese German

Release Date:

25 December 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Until the End of the World

Filming Locations:

Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$38,553, 29 December 1991

Gross USA:

$829,625

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$829,625

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argos Films, Road Movies Filmproduktion, Village Roadshow Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

280 min (director's cut) 179 min (1991 European cut) 287 min (2014 Director's Cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo LC-Concept Digital Sound (France)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It took 14 years and $23 million for Wim Wenders to bring his vision to the screen, shooting in 15 different cities in seven different countries on four different continents.

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Goofs

When many of the European characters leave the Mbantua settlement and take a group photo, believing the adventure to be over, the voice-over mentions that it is February, 2000. Yet shortly after we see Henry Farber trying a new series of experiments on recording dream imagery, and a computer display for the current experiment says January 21.

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Quotes

Claire Tourneur: [singing] I wish today could be tomorrow, The night is dark, It just brings sorrow, let it wait, Thank you for the days, Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me, I'm thinking of the days, I won't forget a single day, believe me, Days I'll remember all my life...

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Cinemania (2002)

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Soundtracks

Humans From Earth
Written by T Bone Burnett
Performed by T Bone Burnett
Courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

Will stay with you for years to come.

I first saw this movie 10 years ago, and have seen it perhaps 50 times since then. There has never been another film that has so affected me this way... the images, dialog, and music keep coming back to me, and each time I watch it I see something new. All this, and I've only seen the edited version, not the 5-hour director's cut, which I hope someday will be released on DVD.

Wenders has a different way of working - he develops the dialog, and even the plot (so the story goes), as the film is being shot. One of the reasons it all seems so real.

The integration of the music is fantastic, and gives just as emotional weight as the stunning cinematography. Rather than slap on some pop music in post-production as most directors do, he first solicited songs from his pals U2, Nick Cave, Peter Gabriel, et al to write a song about the end of the world. He then wove the resulting music into the script.

Every 6 months or so I'm amazed by some bit of news in real life that was actually telegraphed by the film, years ago. Remember the crisis with India and Pakistan developing nuclear arms a few years back?

Solveig Dommartin is intoxicating, William Hurt is his usual self, but for me Sam Neill is the best. His narration is especially haunting.

Shot on 4 continents in 8 countries, this film is truly an epic.