Wings of Desire
There are angels on the streets of Berlin.
Production
Budget
$2 500 000
Revenue
$3 237 175
Director
Actors
Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk, Hans Martin Stier, Elmar Wilms, Sigurd Rachman, Beatrice Manowski, Bruno Rosaz
All actors and roles (10)
All actors and roles (10)
Scenario
Producer
Wim Wenders, Anatole Dauman, Ingrid Windisch
Operator
Composer
Jürgen Knieper
Artist
Audition
Editing
Peter Przygodda
All team (75)
All team (75)
Short description
Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.
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.
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