Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Michael Almereyda (writer)
Peter Carey (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

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.

Plot:

Set in 1999, a woman (Dommartin) has a car accident with some bank robbers, who befriend and enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris...

Plot Keywords:

EMP | End Of The World | End Of The Millenium | Australia | Dream

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Solveig Dommartin	...	Claire Tourneur
Pietro Falcone	...	Mario
Enzo Turrin	...	Doctor
Chick Ortega	...	Chico Remy
Eddy Mitchell	...	Raymond Monnet
William Hurt	...	Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
Adelle Lutz	...	Makiko
Ernie Dingo	...	Burt
Jean-Charles Dumay	...	Mechanic
Sam Neill	...	Eugene Fitzpatrick
Ernest Berk	...	Anton Farber
Christine Osterlein	...	Irina Farber
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Phillip Winter
Diogo Dória	...	Receptionist
Amália Rodrigues	...	Woman in Street Car

Also Known As:

Until the End of the World (UK) (USA)
Jusqu'au bout du monde (France)

Runtime:

280 min (director's cut) | Germany:179 min | Spain:179 min | Sweden:158 min | USA:158 min

Country:

Germany | France | Australia

Language:

English | French | Italian | Japanese | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | LC-Concept Digital Sound (France)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Argos Films

Trivia:

It was only after "Wings of Desire" turned out to be a sleeper hit, that Wim Wenders was able to get funding for this film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: With all electrical devices dead, Buzzer says "without this hand cranker [diesel truck], we'd be going nowhere." He then starts the truck with its electric starter motor.

Quotes:

Claire Tourneur: I don't know where he is. If I knew that, I would be with him; I would be making love to him! I can't believe I just said that.
Burt: It's the sodium pentathol I put in your drink. It's a truth drug.
Claire Tourneur: That's all right. I put sleeping pills in your drink.
Burt: Waiter! Coffee!
[slumps]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cinemania (2002)

Soundtrack:

What's Good

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?)