Despair (1978)
1h 57m
Running Time
September 20, 1978Release Date
Plot.
Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.
Where to Watch.
No streaming offers found
Cast & Crew.
Dirk Bogarde
Hermann Hermann
Andréa Ferréol
Lydia Hermann
Klaus Löwitsch
Felix Weber
Volker Spengler
Ardalion
Bernhard Wicki
Orlovius
Armin Meier
Silverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
Peter Kern
Müller
Adrian Hoven
Inspector Schelling
Alexander Allerson
Mayer
Hark Bohm
Doctor
Roger Fritz
Inspector Braun
Gottfried John
Perebrodov
Y Sa Lo
Elsie
Lilo Pempeit
Mrs. Schmidt
Ingrid Caven
Hotel Manager
Voli Geiler
1st Landlady
Isolde Barth
2nd Landlady
Gitty Djamal
Woman in Pension
Harry Baer
Innkeeper / Assistant Director
Osman Ragheb
Post Office Clerck
Hans Zander
Müller's Brother [Scenes Deleted]
Tom Stoppard
Screenplay
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Director / Editor
Vladimir Nabokov
Novel
Michael Ballhaus
Director of Photography
Juliane Lorenz
Editor
Peer Raben
Original Music Composer
Lutz Winter
Unit Manager
Karin Geuer
Wardrobe Supervisor
Lutz Hengst
Production Executive
Rolf Zehetbauer
Production Design
Antonin Artaud
In Memory Of
Jochen Schumacher
Art Direction / Set Decoration
Peter Knöpfle
Makeup Artist
Dagmar Schauberger
Costume Designer
Milan Bor
Sound Mixer / Sound Re-Recording Mixer
James Willis
Sound Mixer
Elke Vogt
Script Supervisor
Wulf Ghastaus
Unit Manager
Karl-Heinz Vogelmann
Still Photographer
Dieter Minx
Production Supervisor
Herbert Strabel
Art Direction
Vincent van Gogh
In Memory Of
Any Nöbauer
Makeup Artist
Georg Kuhn
Wardrobe Supervisor
Unica Zürn
In Memory Of
Christine Fritz
Assistant Editor
Don French
Unit Manager
Marcel Höhn
Unit Manager
John Stevenson
Boom Operator
Lothar Tropp
Property Master
Klaus Meyenberg
Property Master
Ulrich Wendt
Property Master
Stefan Zürcher
Assistant Director
Ronald M. Scheich
Assistant Director
Rudolf Geiger
Unit Manager
Max Dietl
Costume Designer
Peter Märthesheimer
Producer
Media.
Details.
Release DateSeptember 20, 1978
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 57m
Filming LocationsBavaria, Germany
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
chocolate
based on novel or book
doppelgänger
berlin germany
wife husband relationship
weimar republic
nazism
russian emigre
1930s
business man
identity
paranoia
identity crisis
attempt to escape
painter
alienation
anti semitism
mental illness
madness
assumed identity
insurance policy
double
vagrant
foreshadowing
murder plot
perfect murder
self image
film within a film
performative
dissociation
jewish ancestry
jewish wife
rise of fascism
rise of nazism
victimhood
Wiki.
Despair is a 1978 film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Dirk Bogarde, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. It was Fassbinder's first English-language film and was entered into the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.
Similarly to the novel, the tone of the film is ironic. The plot is mostly similar to the novel, although one of the key characters is significantly altered in the adaptation.
You May Also Like.
Look at the other titles that might be interesting for you
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Movie
8.13
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Movie
7.25
The Godfather (1972)
Movie
8.52
Fight Club (1999)
Movie
8.33
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Movie
6.74
Parasite (2019)
Movie
7.98
Dune (2021)
Movie
7.8
The Truman Show (1998)
Movie
8.44
Joker (2019)
Movie
7.21
Midsommar (2019)
Movie
6.75
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Movie
5.25
Tenet (2020)
Movie
7.11
Her (2013)
Movie
6.83
Halloween (1978)
Movie
7.33
The Witch (2016)
Movie
6.33
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Movie
7.11
The Devil All the Time (2020)
Movie
6.33
The Damned (1969)
Movie
Touch of Evil (1958)
Movie
5.24
Caesar Must Die (2012)
Movie