Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

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:

Blind | Bank Robber | 1999 | Paris | Australia

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 | Argentina:179 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 | Argentina:13 | 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:

When filming ended, Wenders confessed, his producers had to literally pull the plug on him for his own good because he wanted to take the film to a conclusion in the African Congo. There, the Pygmies' "dream music" would have brought his characters and themes full circle. As it is, he hit every continent in the film except Africa and South America.

Goofs:

Continuity: 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.

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:

Fretless

A merry, proto-cyberpunk, romp around the world

UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD (1991) is not like a typical, American science-fiction film. There are no villains or car-chases or explosions (okay, maybe ONE). German director Wim Wenders projected the world 10 years into the future, to 1999. He added only a touch of strangeness, such as cars which speak to the driver and warn of traffic conditions, or videophones (which require people to stay stylish and well-groomed all day in case of an incoming call?)

An Indian nuclear satellite's orbit is decaying, and it may generate an electromagnetic pulse that will wipe out all the world's computer memory. Against this ominous Y2K backdrop, a French party-girl named Claire Tourneur meets two bank-robbers, and the money they confide to her attracts the interest of a hitch-hiker named Trevor McPhee, who takes some and takes off. Trevor attracts the interest of Claire, and from there it's a merry romp around the world as the story crosses nine countries. We discover Trevor's hidden, almost Messianic mission: to give visions to the blind, but not without risk to the characters' minds.

The plot of the story is understated, and there is very little violence except for the emotional violence the characters commit against each other. That makes this film more European than American. Wim Wenders also solicited the collaboration of many pop music artists, asking them for a song like what they would be writing in 10 years' time, making for one of the strongest soundtracks in movie history.

I found that the pace of the film avoided being too languid by the variety of countries and their refreshing sceneries. Wenders carefully crafted his imagery and strongly blended it with sound, albeit the inherent beauty of his film serves to tell a somewhat minimalist story that will nonetheless linger with the viewer.