Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)

Note Générale:

6,6/10   

Réalisateur:

Wim Wenders

Scénaristes:

Michael Almereyda (writer)
Peter Carey (writer)

Date de sortie:

25 décembre 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drame | Science-Fiction

Accroche:

It's 1999. The government will kill for his invention. One woman will do anything for his love. Together they share an adventure that circles the globe - And invades the mind.

Intrigue:

Set in 1999, a woman (Dommartin) has a car accident with some bank robbers, who befriend and enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris...

Plot Keywords:

1999 | Bank Robber | Australia | Road | Dream

Récompenses:

1 win

Avis des utilisateurs:

A difficult film at first, but so is all good literature

Ensemble

Solveig Dommartin	...	Claire Tourneur
Pietro Falcone	...	Mario
Enzo Turrin	...	Doctor
Chick Ortega	...	Chico Remy
Eddy Mitchell	...	Raymond Monnet
William Hurt	...	Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
Adelle Lutz	...	Makiko
Ernie Dingo	...	Burt
Jean-Charles Dumay	...	Mechanic
Sam Neill	...	Eugene Fitzpatrick
Ernest Berk	...	Anton Farber
Christine Osterlein	...	Irina Farber
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Phillip Winter
Diogo Dória	...	Receptionist
Amália Rodrigues	...	Woman in Street Car

Autre(s) titre(s):

Until the End of the World (UK) (USA)
Jusqu'au bout du monde (France)

Durée:

280 min (director's cut) | Germany:179 min | Spain:179 min | Sweden:158 min | USA:158 min | Argentina:179 min

Pays:

Allemagne | France | Australia

Langue:

Anglais | Français | Italien | Japonais | Allemand

Couleur:

Couleur (Eastmancolor)

Rapport de forme:

1,85 : 1

Son:

Dolby | LC-Concept Digital Sound (France)

Classification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Lieux de tournage:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Société:

Argos Films

Anecdotes:

Wenders sent out a call to his favorite musicians for original compositions for the film and received so much good music he decided not to choose a winner but to use it all. Wenders later admitted without a hint of regret that it was a decision that locked him into epic length.

Goofs:

Continuité: When many of the European characters leave the Mbantua settlement and take a group photo, believing the adventure to be over, the voice-over mentions that it is February, 2000. Yet shortly after we see Henry Farber trying a new series of experiments on recording dream imagery, and a computer display for the current experiment says January 21.

Guillemet:

Eugene Fitzpatrick: 1999 was the year that the Indian nuclear satellite went out of control.

Connexions:

Référencé sur Cinemania (2002)

Bande son:

Blood of Eden

A difficult film at first, but so is all good literature

The vast majority of people I know have never understood this film. Probably this is because the 2.5 hour running time of the original release is actually vastly too short for the story. The director's cut is a whopping 4.5 hours, but goes by so quickly one hardly notices. If you are bored, then you probably haven't figured out what's really going on. Some notes:

This is a story of trials, of how our relationships to each other, and to humanity and the Earth, are shaped and impeded by technology. It is a fearful story of the dangers of our world as Wenders saw them in almost 20 years ago now. The journey is central here (as it is in almost all epic works) and the story doesn't work without seeing that journey unfold first all over the earth (and no, it wasn't about sponsoring nations--the journey of Sam and Claire et al reenacts other journeys only alluded to in the film, bringing up themes of connectedness to family and place.)

To me the most important theme in this film is the power of the journey and of stories to transform us--a theme so old we may be tired of it, though it remains relevant today. Eugene (Neill) is to me the central character, and any good viewing of the movie depends on understanding how he fits in as more than a side character caught up in a great chase.

One last note: this doesn't deserve to be described as Sci-Fi. Yes, there's some science-like imagery in it, but the thrust of the movie is literary. The "science-fiction" in the movie serves only as an extension of the transformations and journeys of the characters. It turns those things inward rather than outward, and succeeds well in doing it. A truly remarkable and excellent film that got a bad first screening because no distributor had the guts to put out a 5 hour movie. (What would they say to Akira Kurosawa these days?)