Wings of Desire
Short description
Wings of Desire follows two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, who move unseen through Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its inhabitants. They are witnesses rather than participants, able to offer comfort but not to intervene in human lives. Damiel grows dissatisfied with this existence, particularly after he becomes drawn to Marion, a trapeze artist with a solitary life. His wish to share in mortal experience is encouraged by Peter Falk, an actor who was once an angel himself and recognises the presence of the others.
Wim Wenders directed and co-wrote the film with Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger, and produced it with Anatole Dauman. It was his sixth feature in a career of twenty-two films, arriving between Paris, Texas in 1984 and Until the End of the World in 1991. Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander play the two angels, with Solveig Dommartin as Marion, Curt Bois as Homer and Peter Falk as the film star. The production, mounted with a budget of around three million dollars, matched that figure at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds 7.9 from roughly 83,000 votes, on TMDB 7.8 from about 1,500, while a critics' rating stands at 8.9 from 65 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- When Peter Falk appears, the children running after him shout "Columbo! Columbo!", hinting at the actor's most popular role – Detective Columbo.
- The end credits state that the film is "dedicated to all former angels, but especially Yasujiro, François and Andrei." This refers to filmmakers Yasujiro Ozu, François Truffaut, and Andrei Tarkovsky.
- Circus "Alekan" was named after cinematographer Henri Alekan.
- Wenders was not allowed to film at the actual Berlin Wall. He had to build a set; the first version of the "wall" was destroyed by rain because the set designer deceived the producers and built it out of wood.
- The scene in which Otto Sander's character (the blond angel Cassiel) gloomily rides on a bus, clutching his head in his hands, was filmed that way because a large bald patch was discovered on his head on the day of filming, which no makeup could conceal.
- All the black-and-white scenes were shot through a special filter that cinematographer Henri Alekan constructed from his grandmother's stocking.
- This film features a cameo by Wim Wenders: he plays a member of the film crew in the scene where the angel Cassiel observes the filming of a movie with Peter Falk.
- The first 90 minutes of the film are in black and white because angels only see different shades of gray. The film becomes color simultaneously with Damiel's fall to Earth. At the same time as the fall, Damiel's speech changes – from a lofty 'angelic' style to ordinary speech.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
