May 10, 2004

Wings of Desire

Posted by Chris

Following recommendations from a number of CT readers, I watched Wim Wenders’s beautiful Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) on DVD last night. Ausgezeichnet! (or, maybe, splendid! ). No doubt everyone but me has seen it already, but I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t, so, by way of recommendation, I’ll just say that some lines from Dennis Potter’s final interview came into my head whilst watching it, and have stayed there. Potter, facing death from cancer, spoke thusly:

I can celebrate life. Below my window there’s an apple tree in blossom. It’s white. And looking at it — instead of saying, ‘Oh, that’s a nice blossom’ — now, looking at it through the window, I see the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be. The nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous. If you see the present tense — boy, do you see it. And boy, do you celebrate it.

Posted on May 10, 2004 08:41 AM UTC
Comments

I had no idea you hadn’t seen it. It was the very first movie I ever watched in German and the first Wim Wenders film I ever saw. I’ve been a confirmed Wenders addict ever since.

Posted by Scott Martens · May 10, 2004 10:50 AM

It was my first Wenders too, and it’s the only Wenders film I’ve ever liked (with the possible exception of The American Friend; I might have enjoyed that more had the print I saw not had a peculiar orange tint that I don’t think was specified by the director).

I suspect I liked it as much as I did because I first saw it at an age when I was much more receptive than I am now to that sort of film. If I were to discover it now for the first time I don’t know if I’d be so keen on it… indeed I’ve not watched it in ages and am not sure if I’d still like it now. Must dig it out and see.

Posted by James Russell · May 10, 2004 12:32 PM

I’ve only seen Until the End of the World by Wenders, and it wasn’t in German.

I liked it a lot, but I’m easily entertained.

Posted by andrew · May 10, 2004 12:49 PM

I’m glad that you liked it. My boyfriend and I saw it in the theaters when it came out and both of us thought it was one of the most boring movies we had ever seen.

By point of contrast, both of us liked the Fassbinder movies of the early 1980s, which we also saw in theaters. And all of the movies were in German.

Posted by raj · May 10, 2004 01:09 PM

Good for you Chris. Clearly, it’s Wenders’s greatest film. And wasn’t the use of Peter Falk simply genius? Having seen the movie, I can’t think of another American actor who could have performed the function of indirectly emphasizing how the transcendent (indeed everything) is present in the humble and everyday moment in that atmospheric film nearly as well.

Posted by Russell Arben Fox · May 10, 2004 01:17 PM

Nice! both the film, and the quote.

Now be sure to never, ever watch the awful US remake with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, not even by mistake. Actually, you should make sure you never watch any film with Cage and Ryan in it, not even by mistake. I did, and I regret it so much you have no idea.

You might like the Wenders sequel though. Very nice soundtrack as well. With that equally splendid U2 video directed by Wenders.

Posted by pepi · May 10, 2004 01:45 PM

ah yes, Peter Falk, absolutely stunning in there. I’d forgot about that.

Now you’ve made me want to watch it again!

Posted by pepi · May 10, 2004 01:48 PM

What do folks who liked “WoD” think of “Far Away, So Close”, the sequel? My understanding is that it’s usually thought to be much less good, and that it won awards largely to make up for not giving them to WoD. I have a short bit of free time now so have been thinking of watching it, and would be happy for advice.

Posted by Matt · May 10, 2004 03:19 PM

Unfortunately, ‘Faraway, So Close’ is rubbish.

Posted by Martin O'Neill · May 10, 2004 04:38 PM

I think the (primary) problem with “Faraway, So Close” was that Wenders either misunderstood or thought he’d gotten beyond what made transcendence palpable in the first film: the fact that his angels (who had watched over Berlin forever, who knew every citizen and every nook and cranny and were simply there, part of the atmosphere and infrastructure) were right next door to the quotidian; hence when one of them “falls” into the everyday it makes continuity itself something wonderful, absent any shattering message or insight or revelation. Whereas the fallen angel is “FSC” has to do something, make sense of the new post-Berlin Wall world, cobble something together, come to some decisions, play a role. A typical human story, in other words, rather than a view of the meaning of such.

(Incidentally, this is probable why “City of Angels” never could have worked, even if they hadn’t completely junked the fundamental perspective of “WoD”: I doubt Los Angeles ever could be visually presented as the sort of place where people—mortals or angels—are part of a larger, deeper continuity; the very ambience and environment of the place screams transience and action, not reflection.)

Posted by Russell Arben Fox · May 10, 2004 05:10 PM

Chris, I thought that Joseph Vilsmaier’s The Harmonists, about a mixed Jewish / non-Jewish vocal group in Germany during the runup to World War II was witty and beautifully filmed. Did anyone else see it?

Posted by No Preference · May 10, 2004 05:44 PM

i rented it because it was on an AP list of the best 10 films of the last decade [80s?].

it’s been #1 on my list ever since: it’s like dreaming while awake. a flying trapeze artist is perfect

thanks for the reminder & memories, as a brief respite from the nightmare of current “reality”

Posted by dedee · May 10, 2004 06:43 PM

I didn’t think FSC was so awful, but then I saw it as the other side of WOD. It didn’t work nearly as well, but it worked in some ways. As for Until the End of the World, I thought it was slow, but I really liked it. Maybe it appealed to the cyberpunk globalist in me. Plus, it had a fantastic soundtrack.

Posted by Another Damned Medievalist · May 10, 2004 07:41 PM

My first Wenders film was “Faraway, So Close”. Whoever said it was rubbish is full of rubbish himself. The scene in which Bruno Ganz swings on the bungee cords, the expression on his face of pure joy and freedom, brought tears to my eyes. As soon as I finished the rented film I bought the DVD. I also own “Wings” too.

Posted by The Goddess · May 10, 2004 08:19 PM

I’m glad that ‘the goddess’ enjoyed ‘Far Away, So Close’, but it seemed to me that it had little to recommend it. Where ‘Wings of Desire’ showed, ‘FSC’ merely said. Where the first was graceful and transcendent, the second was clunky and literal-minded.

So, I think one need not be full of rubbish to descibe FSC as rubbish. WOD, of course, is, indeed, splendid.

Posted by Martin · May 10, 2004 11:11 PM

What, no applause for Paris, Texas?!

Actually, my favorite Wenders film is Notebook on Cities and Clothes, which made me realize, among other things, that fashion can reach the level of art, and that clothes really can make the man (and the woman). I bought it and have watched it from time to time, about 5 times now.

Posted by Willie Mink · May 11, 2004 03:27 AM

Congratulations, Chris. I saw Wings when it was released, and then a few years later in my rust-belt hometown, where many audience members who I feared would think it boring were fascinated by it. Und jetzt, und jetzt, und jetzt . . . I don’t recall having thought of FSC as a bad movie, just ordinary and forgettable by comparision with the brilliance of WoD. Maybe Ganz’s character and his struggle are just more interesting than the other fellow’s? Maybe sequels with Lou Reed in them are cursed to be duller than their predecessors(vide Blue in the Face)?

Pseudonym like I use, you might expect me to admire American Friend. And Alice in the Cities is a charmer, for such lines as the little girl’s Warum hasst du angst-angst (Why are you a phobophobe)?

Posted by Mr Ripley · May 11, 2004 07:03 AM

Say what you must about FSC, but it is the only place to catch Lou Reed’s performance of “Why Can’t I Be Good” — surely one of his best post-Velvets compositions. And love to Paris, Texas. Stellar.

Posted by Travis · May 11, 2004 07:16 AM

I’ve made a point of not seeing FSC cos I enjoyed the original film so much that I fear watching the sequel would damage my feelings towards the original. I have the soundtrack album, though.

No love for Paris Texas here either, sorry. Tried it twice and never seen it through to the end yet. I’ll never understand why Wenders didn’t shoot it in Scope, either.

Posted by James Russell · May 11, 2004 10:20 AM

Hey Chris,
Something else you might try to get your german up to speed in the most painless way possible: Brecht/Weil’s Threepenny Opera (with Lotta Lenya singing). It’s funny and the german is really clear. The music isn’t really my cup of tea but it sort of grows on you.
Viel Spass, du !

Posted by aisling · May 11, 2004 05:53 PM

Woops - That’s Weill (with two l’s)

Posted by aisling · May 11, 2004 05:55 PM

Thanks Aisling. An old favourite of mine, in fact (including the music). But I haven’t gone back to it since I started (re)learning German.

Posted by Chris Bertram · May 12, 2004 09:17 AM

Mr Ripley:

“Warum hasst du angst-angst?” actually means “Why do you hate phobophobia?”…:)

And, by the way, the word “jetzt” means “now”.

Posted by A pedant · May 12, 2004 09:21 PM
Followups

→ Coincidence, I think not....
Excerpt: Crooked Timber's Chris also saw Wender's Wings of Desire for the first time recently. His one word review, splendid. He doesn't want to give too much away in terms of the story, but he sums up the movie's theme with a wonderful quote from Dennis Pott...Read more at Futurballa Blog
Wings of Desire.
Excerpt: Watched Wings of Desire again the other night, second time in the last few weeks that I've done so. Hadn't seen it in years until quite recently... what inspired me was a combination of two things, namely seeing this post...Read more at Hot Buttered Death

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.