Despair (1978)
A hysterical comedy
119 min
Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.
- Release date
- May 19, 1978
- Country of origin
- France, Germany
- Budget
- $2,600,000
Where to watch
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Streaming data: JustWatch, via TMDB.
Trailer
Cast
- Dirk Bogarde as Herman
- Andréa Ferréol as Lydia
- Klaus Löwitsch as Felix
- Volker Spengler as Ardalion
- Bernhard Wicki as Orlovius
- Armin Meier as Silverman
- Peter Kern as Müller
- Adrian Hoven as Inspector Schelling
- Alexander Allerson as Mayer
- Hark Bohm as Doctor
- Roger Fritz as Inspector Braun
- Gottfried John as Perebrodov
- Y Sa Lo as Elsie
- Lilo Pempeit as Mrs. Schmidt
- Ingrid Caven as Hotel Manager
- Voli Geiler as 1st Landlady
- Isolde Barth as 2nd Landlady
- Harry Baer as Innkeeper
- Osman Ragheb as Post Office Clerck
- Hans Zander as Müller's Brother [Scenes Deleted]
- Armin Meier as Sergeant Brown
- Armin Meier as Foreman
Crew
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder · Director
- Tom Stoppard · Writer
- Vladimir Nabokov · Writer
- Peter Märthesheimer · Producer
- Peer Raben · Composer
- Michael Ballhaus · Cinematographer
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder · Editor
- Juliane Lorenz · Editor
- Rolf Zehetbauer · Production designer