Wings of Desire
Directed by	Wim Wenders
Produced by	Wim Wenders Anatole Dauman
Written by	Wim Wenders Peter Handke
Starring	Bruno Ganz Solveig Dommartin Otto Sander Curt Bois Peter Falk
Music by	Jürgen Knieper
Distributed by	MGM (US only)
Released	23 September 1987
Running time	127 min.
Language	German, English and French
Budget	€ 2,500,000
IMDb profile

Wings of Desire is the English title of Der Himmel über Berlin, a 1987 film by the German-born director Wim Wenders. It was partially inspired by the poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke. Wenders also employed the skills of Peter Handke, who wrote much of the dialogue and the poetic voice-overs. Image File history File links Wings_of_desire. ... Wilhelm Ernst (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German-born film director, author and producer. ... Wilhelm Ernst (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German-born film director, author and producer. ... Anatole Dauman is a French film producer who has produced films by Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Bresson, Wim Wenders, Nagisa Oshima, Andrei Tarkovsky, Volker Schlöndorff and Alain Resnais. ... Wilhelm Ernst (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German-born film director, author and producer. ... Peter Handke (born December 6, 1942) is an avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright. ... (help· info) (born March 22, 1941 in Zurich) is a Swiss actor. ... Dommartin in Wings of Desire (1987) Solveig Dommartin is a French/German actress. ... Otto Sander (born June 30, 1941) is a German movie, theater, and voice actor. ... Curt Bois (5 April 1901–25 December 1991) was a German actor. ... DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season Peter Michael Falk (born September 16, 1927 of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary) is an American actor. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... See also: 1986 in film, other events of 1987, 1988 in film, list of years in film. // Events May 9 - Actor Tom Cruise marries actress Mimi Rogers. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Motto: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (German: Unity and Justice and Freedom ) Anthem: The third stanza of Das Lied der Deutschen Capital Berlin Largest city Berlin Official language(s) German 1 Government • President • Chancellor • Vice Chancellor Federal Republic Horst Köhler Angela Merkel (CDU) Franz Müntefering (SPD) Formation  Holy... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Wilhelm Ernst (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German-born film director, author and producer. ... Rainer Maria Rilke (born 4 December 1875 in Prague; died 29 December 1926 in Val-Mont (Switzerland)) was an important poet in the German language. ... Peter Handke (born December 6, 1942) is an avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright. ...

Plot

Set in Berlin in the late 1980s, at the close of the Cold War, it follows two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), as they roam the city, unseen and unheard by the people, observing and listening to the diverse thoughts of Berliners: a pregnant woman, a painter, a broken man who thinks his girlfriend no longer loves him. Their raison d'etre is not that of the stereotypical angel, but as Cassiel says, to "assemble, testify, preserve" reality. In addition to the story of two angels, the film also is a meditation on Berlin's past, present, and future. Damiel and Cassiel have always existed as angels; they existed in Berlin before it was a city, and in fact before there were even any humans. Berlin is the capital city and a single state of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... The Cold War was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their alliance partners. ... The Annunciation - the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Jesus (El Greco, 1575) An angel is an ethereal being found in many religions, whose duties are to assist and serve God. ... (help· info) (born March 22, 1941 in Zurich) is a Swiss actor. ... Otto Sander (born June 30, 1941) is a German movie, theater, and voice actor. ... Berliner may refer to A type of doughnut: see Berliner (pastry), Krapfen A newspaper format, slightly larger than tabloid: see Berliner (format) A citizen of Berlin, as used by John F. Kennedy in 1963, saying, “Ich bin ein Berliner. ... ...

Among the Berliners they encounter in their meanderings is an old man named Homer (Curt Bois), who, unlike the Greek poet of war Homer, dreams of an "epic of peace". The angel Cassiel follows the old man as he looks for the Potsdamer Platz in an open field, where all there is is the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall. Curt Bois (5 April 1901–25 December 1991) was a German actor. ... The Homère Caetani bust at the Louvre, a 2nd century Roman copy of a 2nd century BC Greek original. ... Potsdamer Platz is an important square and traffic intersection in central Berlin, Germany. ... For other uses, see Graffiti (disambiguation). ... Remnant of the Berlin Wall near Potsdamer Platz, June 2003. ...

Although Damiel and Cassiel are pure observers, invisible to all but children, and incapable of any physical interaction with our world, one of the angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz), begins to fall in love with a circus trapeze artist named Marion (Solveig Dommartin), who is talented, lovely, but profoundly lonely. Marion lives alone in a trailer, dances alone to the live music of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and drifts through the city. (help· info) (born March 22, 1941 in Zurich) is a Swiss actor. ... Dommartin in Wings of Desire (1987) Solveig Dommartin is a French/German actress. ... Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Pictured left to right: Thomas Wydler, Blixa Bargeld, Martyn P Casey, Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Warren Ellis, Jim Scalavunos, Conway Savage Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds is a successful rock/post-punk band with international personnel. ...

A subpart of the film follows Peter Falk, cast as himself, who has arrived in Berlin to make a film about Berlin's Nazi past. As the movie progresses, it turns out that Peter Falk was also once an angel, who renounced his immortality to become a mortal participant in the world after he grew tired of always observing and never experiencing. DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season Peter Michael Falk (born September 16, 1927 of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary) is an American actor. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ...

Eventually, Damiel too longs for physicality, and to become human. When he sheds his immortal existence, he experiences life for the first time: he bleeds, sees colors for the first time (the movie before then is filmed in a sepia tinted monochrome), tastes food, drinks coffee. Eventually he meets the trapeze artist Marion at a bar, and they greet each other with familiarity as if they had long known each other. In the end, Damiel is united with the woman he had desired for so long. Sepia tone is a type of monochrome photographic image in which the picture appears in shades of brown as opposed to greyscale as in a black-and-white image. ... Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ...

The story is continued in Wenders' 1993 sequel, In weiter Ferne, so nah! (Faraway, So Close!.) A sequel is a work of fiction in literature, film, and other creative works that is produced after a completed work, and is set in the same universe but at a later time. ... Faraway, So Close! is the English title of In weiter Ferne, so nah!, a 1993 film by German director Wim Wenders, written by him, Richard Reitinger and Ulrich Zieger. ...

Cinematography

The movie, shot by cinematographer Henri Alekan, who also famously worked on Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête, shows the point of view of angels in a sepia tinted monochrome and switches to color to show the point of view of human beings. During filming, Wenders and Alekan used a sock knitted by the latter's grandmother as a filter for the monochrome sequences. A cinematographer (from cinema photographer) is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). ... Portrait of Henri Alekan The French cinematographer Henri Alekan was born on February 10th 1909 in Paris, France and died on June 15th 2001 in Auxerre, Bourgogne, France. ... Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (July 5, 1889 – October 11, 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker. ... Beauty and the Beast (in French La Belle et la Bête) is a French film, made in 1946, based on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The film was directed by Jean Cocteau, and starred his gay lover Jean Marais as the Beast and Josette Day as Beauty. ...

Awards

The film won the prize for Best Direction at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival The Palais des Festivals (2000) The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival international du film de Cannes or simply le Festival de Cannes) is a film festival held in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France. ...

American remake

In 1998 an American remake called City of Angels was made. The setting was Los Angeles and starred Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage. In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... City of Angels is a film that was directed by Brad Silberling in 1998. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Meg Ryan Meg Ryan , née Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra (born November 19, 1961 in Fairfield, Connecticut) is an American actress who specializes in romantic comedies, but has worked in other film genres as well. ... The Weather Man movie poster Nicolas Cage (born January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. ...

External links

• Official site
• Fansite
• Page by the film's art designer
• "Great Movies" review by Roger Ebert
• Wings of Desire at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films
• Wings of Desire at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)