Certification. PG
Running Time. 2 hours 8 mins
Director. Wim Wenders
Rating. 90%
My formative years were spent discovering new music at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut and new cinema at The Glasgow Film Theatre. The GFT introduced me to the films of Pedro Almodóvar, Claude Berri, Luc Besson, Krzysztof Kieslowski, David Lynch and, the indomitable, Wim Wenders.
Last weekend, The GFT screened a restored print [in 4K resolution] of one of my favourite Wim Wenders films, Wings Of Desire.
Wings Of Desire tells the story of two angels - both apparently questioning their very being. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is an angel weary of his immortal existence, and longs to be with trapeze artist, Marion (Solveig Dommartin), who he has fallen in love with. Cassiel (Otto Sander) is undergoing an existential struggle as he fails to offer solace to a tormented man contemplating suicide.
The opening 30 minutes to many may seem interminable, perhaps even pretentious, but Wings Of Desire is never esoteric. Instead, director Wim Wenders spends a considerable amount of time establishing the premise that our world is inhabited by invisible, benevolent angels dressed in trench coats listening to our everyday, mundane thoughts. Only then does the film gravitate towards Circus Alekan and one of the main love stories, Damiel and Marion.
However, I would argue that the real love story in Wings Of Desire is the relationship between Wim Wenders and Berlin. Wings Of Desire is Wenders' eulogy to the city (and people) of Berlin. The audience is treated to an intimate, poetic portrait of Berlin, just two years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Much of the film is shot in black and white, to depict the narration from the angels' perspective and Henri Alekan's astounding monochrome cinematography captures a sense of melancholy - loneliness pervades in every frame. Perhaps borne from a city seemingly forever divided by the immutable Berlin Wall. The transformation Berlin has undergone since the original release of Wings Of Desire only serves to add an additional layer of nostalgia.
There is a wonderfully composed climax to Wings Of Desire as Damiel searches for Marion at a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert. The selection of the accompanying track, From Her To Eternity is a masterstroke. The mounting tension of the scene seems synchronised with the ever-increasing energy of the track. Combined with a stunning piece of cinematography - when a world-weary Cassiel is silhouetted on stage in time with the pulsating, staccato beat - this is art in celluloid form.
Wim Wenders cast his then-girlfriend, Solveig Dommartin in the central role of Marion (though she had only previously worked as a director's assistant prior to Wings Of Desire). For the most part, she embodies the role of Marion. Vulnerable, enchanting and effortlessly alluring. However, her lack of experience (and shortcomings as an actress) are exposed in the uncomfortable delivery of a pivotal five-minute monologue in the closing scene. This cannot be said for her trapeze work. Dommartin had to learn all of the trapeze movements in just eight weeks, and never once used a stunt double during filming.
Wings Of Desire remains a richly poetic piece of cinema that is a beautiful, wistful, romantic portrayal of Berlin before the Berlin Wall fell. A film that centres on divisions and disconnections, whether these relate to a divided city or the dualities of the spiritual and the sensual. Most of all, Wings Of Desire is a film that rightly deserves the label of masterpiece.
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