Despair
“A hysterical comedy”
Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.
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Cast
21 people
Dirk Bogarde
Hermann Hermann
Known for
A Bridge Too Far
Death in Venice
Andréa Ferréol
Lydia Hermann
Known for
The Last Metro
La Grande Bouffe
Klaus Löwitsch
Felix Weber
Known for
The Marriage of Maria Braun
World on a Wire
Volker Spengler
Ardalion
Known for
In a Year with 13 Moons
Chinese Roulette
Bernhard Wicki
Orlovius
Known for
Paris, Texas
La Notte
Armin Meier
Silverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
Known for
Chinese Roulette
Peter Kern
Müller
Known for
World on a Wire
Wrong Move
Adrian Hoven
Inspector Schelling
Known for
World on a Wire
Fox and His Friends
Alexander Allerson
Mayer
Known for
All the Way Boys
My Name Is Nobody
Hark Bohm
Doctor
Known for
The Golden Glove
The Third Generation
Roger Fritz
Inspector Braun
Known for
Cross of Iron
Querelle
Gottfried John
Perebrodov
Known for
GoldenEye
World on a Wire
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Director · Tom Stoppard Screenplay Vladimir Nabokov Author
Budget $2.6M · United States release February 16, 1979 · Produced in Germany, France
Box office
Budget
$2,600,000
Production
Bavaria Studios
Production
New Line Cinema
Studio
Bavaria Atelier
Production
Bavaria Film
Production
Filmverlag der Autoren
Production
Germany · France
Produced in
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
Germany · May 19, 1978
Premiere · Stuttgart
United States · February 16, 1979
Theatrical · New York City, New York
United States
October 5, 1978 · Premiere · New York Film Festival
Finland
November 10, 1978 · Theatrical
France
May 19, 1978 · Premiere · Cannes Film Festival
September 20, 1978 · Theatrical
Greece
February 19, 1979 · Theatrical
Italy
July 9, 1982 · Theatrical
Netherlands
July 17, 2014 · Theatrical · Re-release
January 20, 2015 · Physical · DVD
Spain
November 27, 1978 · Theatrical
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Some details come from TheTVDB.