Directed by Wim Wenders • 1987 • Germany, France
Starring Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Peter Falk
WINGS OF DESIRE is one of cinema’s loveliest city symphonies. Bruno Ganz is Damiel, an angel perched atop buildings high over Berlin who can hear the thoughts—fears, hopes, dreams—of all the people living below. But when he falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, he is willing to give up his immortality and come back to earth to be with her. Made not long before the fall of the Berlin wall, this stunning tapestry of sounds and images, shot in black and white and color by the legendary Henri Alekan, is movie poetry. And it forever made the name Wim Wenders synonymous with film art.
This commentary features director Wim Wenders and star Peter Falk. It was edited in 2009 by independent DVD producer Mark Rance from over six hours of interviews he conducted in August and September 1996 and March 1997.
The following documentary from 2003 includes interviews with WINGS OF DESIRE director Wim Wenders; writer Peter Handke; actors Peter Falk, Bruno Ganz, and Otto Sander; Brad Silberling, director of CITY OF ANGELS; and composer Jürgen Knieper.
This excerpt is from “Wim Wenders Berlin Jan. 87,” an episode of the French television program “Cinéma cinémas.” It was directed by Claude Ventura and first broadcast February 17, 1987.
