Despair (Despair - Eine Reise ins Licht) (1978)

69% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(453 ratings)

Having made as many films as he had years, at 31, Rainer Werner Fassbinder essayed a slightly different approach for his 32nd film, Despair. Here, he uses a witty screenplay written by the well-known playwright Tom Stoppard, based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Furthermore, the entire film, set in… More Having made as many films as he had years, at 31, Rainer Werner Fassbinder essayed a slightly different approach for his 32nd film, Despair. Here, he uses a witty screenplay written by the well-known playwright Tom Stoppard, based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Furthermore, the entire film, set in 1930s Germany, is in English. It received mixed reviews, if only because it is so unlike the director's other works. In the story, a Russian owner of a German chocolate-factory, whose business and marriage are both on the rocks, fantasizes about leaving his current life, and living another one. Indeed, he has delusions that he is somehow outside himself, watching himself live his life. So strong is his desire to alter his life that when he encounters a tramp while on a brief business trip, he imagines that the man looks exactly like him, decides to exchange identities with the tramp, and murders him. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written By: Vladimir Nabokov, Tom Stoppard
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: May 19, 1978 Wide
On DVD: Dec 30, 1988

Critic Reviews

Richard Brody, New Yorker
Fassbinder films life in the cosseted class as a masque of glass and mirrors, replete with alluring deceptions and suave surfaces that belie volcanic passions.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
The Stoppard script is a joy for anyone who likes the English language.
Philip Kemp, Total Film
Everything about Despair feels queasily off - the plot, the acting, the dialogue and the fussily over-decorated sets.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
A superb surrealist noir.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Not one of [Fassbinder's] best.
Simon Abrams, Slant Magazine
Of the authorial trifecta that created Despair, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's voice is the most pronounced.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
A lambent house of cards
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
It is beautifully photographed by Ballhaus in a frame filled with reflective glass and mirrors.
, Time Out
Bold, garish and obsessive, but more than a little irritating.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Despair is a surreal version of a Vladimir Nabokov novel with a poised performance by Dirk Bogarde.
, Film4
It suffers from obfuscation and from the fact that it is in English.