Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) (The Sky Above Berlin) poster & wallpaper

Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander

An angel tires of overseeing human activity and wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal.

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38 critics

PG-13, 2 hrs. 10 min.

Directed by: Wim Wenders

Release Date: May 17, 1987

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DVD Release Date: July 1, 2003

Stats: 1,872 reviews

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Cassiel Damiel Damiel Marion & Damiel Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) (The Sky Above Berlin) Aerial shot of Berlin Solveig Dommartin in Wings Of Desire Damiel Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) (The Sky Above Berlin)
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Flixster Reviews (1,872)

  • benjaminguilbert2
    November 17, 2009
    benjaminguilbert2
    Just did not get into the film, too airy, too strange, too slow. And quite frankly I do not care about the inner life of angels.
  • her69eyes
    November 11, 2009
    her69eyes
    Guardian angels are no strangers to film, but I don't know if they've ever been depicted quite like they are in Wim Wender's "Wings of Desire". They're humble looking men dressed all in black - curious observers longing to be human. They have the power of suggestion and can elici...( read more)t hope into some of the wary, but in other cases their inability to interfere with the human world is a tremendous burden.

    Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are angels in the divided city of Berlin. They have, as we find out, existed since the beginning of time - before humans inhabited the Earth. Their purpose is left ambiguous. They simply eavesdrop on fantasies and thoughts, the power to listen to an entire city's deepest fears. Their prescence seems to be felt by some, but they cannot touch or manipulate the world in any way.

    Their world is black-and-white. They have the transcendent power of absolute freedom, but that freedom is also restricting. Damiel wonders what it would feel like to take off his shoes and wiggle his toes about. The simple pleasures are what make us human. Being an angel, a being incapable of such simple pleasures, is a world completely void of color.

    The film is shot by the legendary Henri Alekan, who photographed Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast". The camera is always in motion, a sweeping effect that not only echoes the movement of angels, but entrances us in the film's intoxicating beauty. It's effect on me was perhaps only parallel to the lush visuals of Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad" - it's a movie with the power to completely envelope you in it's world.

    When Damiel decides to shed his wings for the human world, the film looks like another universe entirely. The writing, however, a purposely meandering and relentlessly curious sort of uncensored thought process, weds the segments together beautifully.

    "Wings of Desire" is, for it's visual beauty alone, one of the best films of it's decade. It's unlike anything you've seen before - a meditative, surreal dance through a war torn city, the angels as our tour guides.
  • vierasesine
    November 6, 2009
    vierasesine
    So ein wunderschönes Film!
  • FangsFirst
    February 4, 2009
    FangsFirst
    After watching this, my father immediately told me about it and said it was the first film that he immediately re-watched with commentary. He loaned me the movie at the time, but I bought it before I watched it and so returned his copy, then took these last few months to get arou...( read more)nd to seeing it. Other people also highly recommended it around me, some endorsing Wim Wenders in general, occasionally endorsing other films of his over this one. I knew going in (as should most viewers beforehand) that this was definitely a movie that would play in an arthouse, and thus should be recognized as being peculiar in pace and style. The random seemingly placement of Peter Falk was what most encouraged me to give it a go--or at least the final straw that broke my wavering indecisiveness.

    Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are two angels wandering the still-bisected city of Berlin, observing and recording human nature and history. They can hear the thoughts of anyone they choose, and do so continuously. They choose people at random, a woman here, a man there, one sad, one young, one happy, one old--anyone and everyone is to be observed. Cassiel follows an old man named Homer (Curt Bois) who runs through his own memories of the second World War and his time in Berlin. He is on a search for the bulldozed Potsdamer Platz, remembering that he drank coffee here and smoked cigars from the tobacconist that was there. Damiel begins to follow Peter Falk (who is playing himself), who is filming a story about World War II and sketching in his spare time. Damiel listens to his thoughts like everyone else's, but when he wanders into a circus he finds something else entirely. He and Cassiel discuss in a car their small observances--someone who takes down an umbrella and is drenched, the time of sunrise and sunset--and Damiel discusses his growing dissatisfaction with the world they have, wishing he could experience instead of observe, that he could be acknowledged, remove his shoes and curl his toes, feed a cat, anything so long as he could do instead of watch. The circus only enhances this, because what he finds there is a trapeze artist named Marion (Solveig Dommartin), who captures his eye and fills him with desire. He takes Cassiel to see her, his eyes watering and his jaw slack as he watches her movements. When the chance to fulfill his wish and desire comes to Damiel, he takes it and enters the world of humans to pursue Marion.

    I think I was thrown off a fair bit by the alleged "remake" status of City of Angels, which I have seen. Calling it a remake of this is a joke, and I say that without pretentious airs of "arthouse superiority"--they simply have almost nothing in common, even in plot. I recognized the differing tone and meaning early on, but consistently expected things to somehow swing toward the events of those film, which they simply don't do, other than the shared understanding of angels in overcoats who occasionally become human. Beyond that, when watching either film, ignore the other. They simply don't relate. That said, I am also not hugely into things like stream-of-consciousness or arthouse-style pacing. Here, though, neither comes off as a pretentious decision so much as a necessary one for the ideas that Wenders is exploring. We're observing humanity, in the black and white (filtered with Director of Photography Henri Alekan's grandmother's rare stockings!) world of pure observation that the angels inhabit. They smile distantly or frown, even embrace the people they observe in unnoticed attempts at consolation and comfort. We hear human thoughts which simply are stream-of-consciousness, nearly by definition. The pacing also reflects on the moment-to-moment way that life unfolds, and the poetic monologues of men like the aged Homer are in the way of their character, with most regular people straying further away from such musings into simplistic thoughts. Falk ponders the idea of "extras" while sketching one in a fashion true to real thoughts.

    I was a ways into the film before I really grasped what I was seeing and how different it was from what I was set up to expect by the aforementioned claims. Falk was the strongest rope to hold until this time, his natural charisma and sort of folksy-yet-streetbound speech patterns and manner never a disappointment to hear and see. This isn't to say Ganz and Sander in anyway fail to capture interest, with Ganz gaining and gaining in his emotional involvement, his distant smiles more bright than his eternal companion's, as Sanders' Cassiel is more and more depressed by the observances he has, seeing more of the darkness of experience than the increasing love Damiel feels. Dommartin, too, captures an interesting discrepancy between her outward appearance of amusement and her internal monologue of loneliness. Her smile is sad, even though her thoughts are (naturally) ADR. Her love for Nick Cave's music was an amusing surprise for me, as I actually almost recognized the LP sleeve she pulled out (without being terribly familiar with Cave's album covers), was almost sure I recognized the musical stylings (despite having never heard the song) and was finally relieved to see the clearly labelled poster--and then a great performance by Cave, and even a glimpse into his thinking by Cassiel.

    This is one of those films called "dreamlike" and "lyrical" and things of that general sort, suggesting to some intolerable pretense and snail-like pacing and to others a highbrow approach that they can then lord over viewers of "inferior" movies. It is "lyrical" and "dreamlike," to be sure, but it's for neither of these reasons. As I said before, the resemblance it bears to those negative connotations is coincidental: this is the method Wenders has chosen to tell this story, and it is the right choice, possibly even the only choice. Still, my appreciation wavered during a monologue by Dommartin at the end of the film. She speaks it aloud but it sounds like her thoughts, and the first moment that's an interesting realization, but as it goes on, one can't help but wonder why on earth she's speaking so long and so strangely. These aren't her thoughts, and this is the full and real world, as the absence of the monochromatic filter tells us. Yet her she is, babbling endlessly. It's certainly a tie to the "relationship" Damiel and Marion had prior to his "descent" into the world of man, but it comes off as bizarre and does not quite work. It's to achieve a particular aim, as her words endorse this same feeling of replicating their original "relationship," but it doesn't quite jibe with Damiel's wish to experience the world, his delight at bleeding and drinking coffee and kicking sand. As I write this though, it occurs to me that he did say he wished only to be acknowledged with a small nod--and perhaps that's exactly what he earns here: he does what he knows by listening, but she is speaking to him knowingly this time, and in so doing is acknowledging that she is whole in and of herself and this time is seeing someone who matters, where prior relationships could have been with any sole, where familial relations had no intrinsic connection to them--anyone could have been her parents or brother, really.

    I should probably see this again--it was by no means a disappointment, but it did not quite reach the emotional heights I understood it would--though the scenes of Damiel's heartbreak when unable to interact with Marion are absolutely affecting.
  • drago25
    October 7, 2008
    drago25
    The story of an angel who gives up his immorality for the love of a human woman. This is a remarkable German film - shot mostly in a beautiful, crisp sepia tone, with splashes of full colour throughout, this film is utterly profound and a must-see. The direction is brilliant, so ...( read more)many interesting shots and so well, written, too. Having Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in there at the end was a very cool, pleasant touch to the whole affair, too.
  • ElCochran90
    November 21, 2009
    ElCochran90
    "Tell me, muse, of the storyteller who has been thrust to the edge of the world, both an infant and an ancient, and through him reveal everyman. With time, those who listened to me became my readers. They no longer sit in a circle, bur rather sit apart. And one doesn't know an...( read more)ything about the other. I'm an old man with a broken voice, but the tale still rises from the depths, and the mouth, slightly opened, repeats it as clearly, as powerfully. A liturgy for which no one needs to be initiated to the meaning of words and sentences."

    DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN (1987)


    Director: Wim Wenders
    Country: West Germany / France
    Genre: Fantasy / Drama / Romance
    Length: 128 minutes

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    Wim Wenders is a director of remarkable talent. With his absolutely gorgeous and inspirational German masterpiece Der Himmel Über Berlin, he has established himself as an inventive poet. Few films of this caliber have ever been made, and its strong influence and astonishing success had, as very obvious outcomes, a sequel directed also by Wenders called In Weiter Ferne, so Nah! (1993) and the hideous remake City of Angels (1998), a film by Brad Silberling that starred two retarded actors. However, the experience that Wender's most astonishing masterpiece offers to a modern audience is absolutely breathtaking, following the footsteps that Alain Resnais left behind after directing Hiroshima mon Amour (1959) and reinventing the same human nostalgia with a more celestial approach. The final outcome of this multilayered journey is one of the most provocative and thought-provoking masterpieces of the decade, and even one of the most heartwarming and reflexive films of all time. Before the Berlin Wall was destroyed, West Germany found an extraordinarily charming form of artistic expressionism and visual beauty in their purest forms.

    Two angels named Damiel and Cassiel wander through the streets of Berlin, constantly hearing the thoughts of disillusioned and brokenhearted people and giving them invisible comfort in order to lighten their respective emotional burdens. Damiel's wish for becoming human in order to feel, taste, see, perceive and appreciate life as the human beings do grows significantly stronger when he falls in love with a beautiful, mortal acrobat. Unbeknown to her, he follows her footsteps, constantly listening to her desires and urges, until the day Damiel is granted the honor of being human and seeking unconditional, romantic love. Wim Wenders won an award for Best Director and was nominated for a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival of 1987, losing it against Maurice Pialat's Sous le Soleil de Satan (1987). The film received 4 European Film Award nominations for Best Camera, Best Film, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director the next year, when Krótki Film o Zabijaniu (1988) was considered as the best film.

    The most significant symbol within the plot is the fact that angels cannot experience the emotions, the pain and the perception of life like humans can do. Consequently, the graphical means used to portray this aspect is a poetical, brilliantly shot black-and-white perspective. It is not until Damiel receives the opportunity of being human when a colorful and glorious colored cinematography is depicted. Der Himmel Über Berlin owes a significant amount of cinematic credit towards the previous works of Alain Resnais. It explores the city of Berlin through a divine, heavenly and omniscient approach, like if we were the immediate god of the film. Eagle-eye shots and delicately crafted voiceovers of the lost and confused citizens are added in order to maximize the absolute mysticism of this gorgeous work of art. Throughout, several strokes of complex human expression are painted, and the uniformly superb performances surround a very solid and believable Bruno Ganz.

    The camera travels from the top of the buildings and the famous monument in which Damiel stands to the most hidden, poverty-stricken and devastated urban landscapes of the famous European city. Der Himmel Über Berlin does not necessarily commit a blasphemous commentary towards Catholicism or religion... not even remotely. On the contrary, it exalts and glorifies the human condition. It has the capacity of changing lives, increasing the optimism and to psychologically build a bigger appreciation of a surrounding environment. This audacious and rather difficult task is not achieved through pretentious grandiloquence, but expresses it through a multitalented screenplay with a huge substance of philosophy hidden within. The film opens with the diary of Damiel, immortalizing the thoughts a child had and expressing his desire of being a human being, referencing the magical innocence that the soul loses with the passage of time and the corruptibility of the society. We then see Damiel standing atop a large statue and, slowly, his wings start to dim, along with his hope.

    All of the aforementioned elements and possible objectives of Der Himmel Über Berlin is shown through the simplest of all plots: a romance story. However, this particular romance is conditioned. It can't be consummated, nor can it be corresponded. It is just an invisible element of unfulfilled dreams and impossible realizations while Damiel mindlessly stares at her inside the circus and accompanying her to her room. Voyeurism is the closest connection he can establish with the trapeze artist since the physical contact equals painful impossibility. Regardless of the fact that he supposedly comprehends the importance of his role as an angel, it seems that the slow construction of an existential emptiness is an aspect that not even angels can avoid. The angels themselves are incarnated in anthropomorphic forms, but it is not precisely a stereotypical representation. Instead, it alludes to the physical form of a typical person, like attempting to sympathize with depressed masses and culminating in a journey of self-discovery. What better filming location could have been used that could properly emphasize the delicacy and the positive message aimed towards a modern audience if not an industrialized and modernized capital city?

    Technically and cinematographically speaking, this masterpiece is a shining triumph. Long takes and an inspiringly sharp quality image enhance how jubilant this depiction of life can be. The writing collaboration between Richard Reitinger, Peter Handke and Wim Wenders is outstanding, reuniting a massive collection of expertly spoken words and phrases, and giving them a comprehensible structure in order to create a haunting and memorable piece of filmmaking. Several ethnicities are bounded through a single connection, and the unpredictability of the problems that the angels will have to face is the substance that keeps this marvelous engine running. Romance is the sympathetic machinist and the illusion of living is the attitude that will allow anybody to obtain a more divine catharsis than any Shakespeare masterwork could offer. Cinema is an art form consisting of moving images with a nature of its own. Der Himmel Über Berlin gathers nostalgic images of inexplicable inspiration and grants them a very well defined meaning. When put together, they form a peaceful and cataclysmic explosion of sentimentalism and positivism. It is a symphony of undeniable power and unrepeatable humanism. The ways of looking at the film are numerous. It can be seen as a criticism towards spiritual inconformity, as a tragic tale of unrequited satisfaction or as a monumental landmark of the depiction of the soul when our mind lives encapsulated in a giant sphere of improbable wishes. Dear reader: entrust your life to God and stop thinking... just act.

    100/100
  • cinnamontree
    November 9, 2009
    cinnamontree
    If I ever see this again I'm sure I will like it even more. The arthouse style is not that familiar to me so it took some time to get used to the pacing and style. The only thing that bothered me was Marion's monologue in the end. Seemed misplaced a bit.
  • sagapart12
    October 5, 2009
    sagapart12
    I've been drawn as of late to films that really leave a haunting image in ones mind. That's the feeling I get from this film. A whole lot of haunting poetic images. Not for everyone, but there is really beauty in there to be found.
  • tapia73
    September 24, 2009
    tapia73
    "Las alas del deseo" Una hermosísima película de Win Wenders; la primera parte de "Tan cerca, tan lejos".
  • kanokaan
    September 11, 2009
    kanokaan
    I wasnt waiting this much dialogue.But this is not City of Angels or that kinda thing...Wings of Desire is a more intelligent and...egg-head in a good way.But as you know there so many people who dont entelechy movies or art.There are many quetos in this movie.Mostly from Rainer ...( read more)Maria Rilke.I dont know that poet i looked at a quiz.But Wim Wenders is very smart.He is using both Colour and Black/White in his movie.And it is really helping to us to understand some parts in the movie.
    And one of the facts that made me like this movie was:It has ideas.For example the part that 2 angels were talking about the first years of earth was really good.I like movies with ideas for unknown thing.They give us a start to think about that topic.I thinked about the first years of earth when these angels were talking about it and i got something.The first animal was "Frog". Yes,true or not,i like this idea and i like thinking about it.

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Critic Reviews

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The film evokes a mood of reverie, elegy and meditation. full review

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