Wings of Desire (1987)
Berlin, before the Wall came down, was a city full of people who could not hear each other. Above them moved figures who could hear everything and touch nothing.
WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) follows Damiel and Cassiel, two angels who drift through the city in black and white, catching the private thoughts of strangers on trains, in libraries, in cars stopped at intersections. They comfort the desperate with a hand no one feels. They have watched humanity since before the city had walls, and they are tired of watching.
Damiel falls for Marion, a trapeze artist performing under a shabby circus tent, and the longing to feel what she feels, hunger, cold, the weight of a coat, becomes unbearable. Peter Falk appears as himself, a film star shooting a movie in Berlin, who speaks to Damiel as though he can sense him there.
Wim Wenders shot the angels' world in black and white and let color bleed in only when human eyes take over the frame. Peter Handke wrote the poem that opens the film and recurs through it, spoken like a memory older than the characters themselves.
It is a film about wanting to be mortal, and about a divided city aching to be whole.
About the Film
There are angels on the streets of Berlin.
- Directed By
- Wim Wenders
- Runtime
- 128 minutes
- Released
- September 23, 1987
- US Theatrical
- April 29, 1988
- Certification
- PG-13
- Country
- Germany, France
- Starring
- Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk
More Credits
- Genres
- Drama, Fantasy, Romance
- Language
- English, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Spanish, Turkish, German
- Origin
- DE
- Studios
- Road Movies, Argos films, WDR, Wim Wenders Stiftung
- Collection
- Damiel and Cassiel Collection
- Written By
- Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger, Wim Wenders, Bernard Eisenschitz
- Produced By
- Wim Wenders, Anatole Dauman, Ingrid Windisch
- Cinematography
- Henri Alekan
- Music
- Jürgen Knieper
- Also Starring
- Hans Martin Stier, Elmar Wilms, Sigurd Rachman, Beatrice Manowski, Bruno Rosaz
- Budget
- $2,500,000
- Box Office
- $3,548,590
Where to Watch
Source: JustWatch
Physical Media
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/sky-over-berlin
Other editions
I so love this movie.
I wanted to see this
I feel it will be
heartbreaking
Marcia McElligott-Sloan it’s my favorite film of all time- it’s magical and more than any other film, it speaks to me about what really counts in life and the beauty in the everyday. Its cinematography is also stunning. And you will never view Peter Falk quite the same way again. Treat yourself to it…
Mitch Abney I spent summer
visits with The Abney’s in
Littleton, Colo.
I am now OBLIGATED to watch this film 😊.
Mitch Abney You know what ??
I almost drowned in a FLOOM.
( do you know what a floom is ? ) there, near their home.
Then,on the way to their
RC MASS, I flipped my English
racer. OOOOF Maybe
angels were watching me !?
Marcia McElligott-Sloan I lived in Denver for a few years as a kid – small world! Enjoy the film – I first saw it in an old theater shortly after moving to Austin TX. The film put me in another world for about the next hour.
It was a very good film, but I guess I was too young to really understand it, because I still question some of the themes. It was a bit too arthouse-y for young me, I’d like to definitely give it another look now that I’m older.
I absolutely adore this beautiful film.
My favorite of all – I think the point about Falk’s character should be left to the 1st time viewer’s surprise though
Mitch Abney Agreed. Edited the text.
terrific film.
beautiful scenes in a beautiful movie
I have a lot of “favorite” movies… But this is high in the poorly defined hierarchy.
Top 10 shit
One of my very favorite movies of all time!!!!!
This is my all-time favorite movie
Memorable film.