Wings of Desire

Theatrical Release Date: 1988 04 29 (USA)

UPC: 027616887450

Studio: MGM

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children]

Summary: Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are angels who watch over the city of Berlin. They don't have harps or wings (well, they usually don't have wings) and they prefer overcoats to gossamer gowns. But they can travel unseen through the city, listening to people's thoughts, watching their actions and studying their lives. While they can make their presence felt in small ways, only children and other angels can see them. They spend their days serenely observing, unable to interact with people, and they feel neither pain nor joy. One day, Damiel finds his way into a circus and sees Marion (Solveig Dommartin), a high-wire artist, practicing her act; he is immediately smitten. After the owners of the circus tell the company that the show is out of money and must disband, Marion sinks into a funk, shuffling back to her trailer to ponder what to do next. As he watches her, Damiel makes a decision: he wants to be human, and he wants to be with Marion, to lift her spirits and, if need be, to share her pain. Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire is a remarkable modern fairy tale about the nature of being alive. The angels witness the gamut of human emotions, and they experience the luxury of simple pleasures (even a cup of coffee and a cigarette) as ones who've never known them. From the angels' viewpoint, Berlin is seen in gorgeous black-and-white -- strikingly beautiful but unreal; when they join the humans, the image shifts to rough but natural-looking color, and the waltz-like grace of the angels' drift through the city changes to a harsher rhythm. Peter Falk appears as himself, revealing a secret that we may not have known about the man who played Columbo, and there's also a brief but powerful appearance by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Wings of Desire hinges on the intangible and elusive, and it builds something beautiful from those qualities. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Fantasy

Awards: Best Director – European Film Academy Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – European Film Academy Audience Award – São Paulo International Film Festival Best Cinematography – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Foreign Film – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Cannes Film Festival Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Best Cinematography – New York Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor – European Film Academy

Features: cc
Audio commentary with director Wim Wenders and Peter Falk
"Angels Among Us" documentary
Interactive map
Deleted scenes with director's commentary
Original advertising artwork
Original theatrical trailers

Wings of Desire

Format: DVD

Release Date: 07/01/2003

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Alternate Wide Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS2.0 Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels

Runtime: 128 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,German

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. The Child/Main Title [2:32]
2. People Talk [3:44]
3. Vaguely Unhappy Indoors [2:46]
4. The Kids' Questions [1:48]
5. Craving Weight and Pain [5:27]
6. Angels in the Library [6:07]
7. Out of the Hole [2:35]
8. Marion's Flying Chicken [5:56]
9. To Be, to Dream, to Want [5:04]
10. Thoughts to Go With Death [5:10]
11. To Each His Own... Wall [5:02]
12. A Hat's Motivation [5:01]
13. Extra Humans [4:41]
14. Circus, Circus [5:20]
15. Remember When...? [4:19]
16. Raccoon Eyes [:57]
17. The Jumper's Dilemma [2:28]
18. Watching Yourself Think [3:39]
19. The Show Up There [4:49]
20. A Good-Time Story [2:55]
21. Hands Inside the Body [4:37]
22. Dreaming of Wings [1:38]
23. "I'm a Friend" [2:43]
24. Plans for Manhood [2:41]
25. First Day in Color [6:37]
26. Kindred Ex-Spirit [:22]
27. Girl Without Ties [2:54]
28. A Missing-Persons Case [5:19]
29. Searching in Concert [2:51]
30. Finally Serious [5:09]
31. In, Around and Together [6:35]
32. To Be Continued/Credits [2:04]

Lucia Bozzola

After seven years in the U.S., New German Cinema director Wim Wenders returned to Germany for this meditation on existence, mortality, time, and Berlin, the city in which it is set. Co-written with frequent collaborator Peter Handke, the odyssey of two guardian angels becomes a means for Wenders to examine poetically the fractured "soul" of the still-divided Berlin. Mixing black-and-white and color, and aerial photography with street-level shooting, Wenders contrasts the contemplative distance of the angels with the emotional vicissitudes of daily life. Damiel's desire to trade his wings for a chance at full-color human romance with a circus performer becomes a descent into a forward-moving present that threatens pain as well as potential joy. The fall of the Berlin Wall only two years later makes Wings of Desire seem more prescient than obsolete. Praised for its imaginative lyricism, the film won Wenders the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival; the 1993 sequel Faraway, So Close was not as well-received, and the film was Hollywoodized as City of Angels in 1998. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Beatrice Manowski  Actor 
Didier Flamand  Actor 
Blixa Bargeld  Actor 
Hans-Martin Stier  Actor 
Dirk Vogeley  Actor 
Peter Werner  Actor 
Mick Harvey  Actor 
Patrick Kreuzer  Actor 
Lajos Kovács  Actor 
Olivier Picot  Actor 
Ulrike Schirm  Actor 
Nick Cave  Actor 
Paul Busch  Actor 
Peter Handke  Screenwriter 
Jürgen Knieper  Composer (Music Score) 
Wim Wenders  Director 
Wim Wenders  Screenwriter 
Ingrid Windisch  Executive Producer 
Ingrid Windisch  Producer 
Bruno Ganz  Actor 
Solveig Dommartin  Actor 
Peter Falk  Actor 
Otto Sander  Actor 
Curt Bois  Actor 

Country: France,West Germany