Customer Reviews

Despair (Eine Reise ins Licht)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dirk Bogarde does an excellent job in portraying a once-Hungarian, now German, who inherited a chocolate factory (do NOT think Willy Wonka!)from his father-in law. It's the early '30s; times are getting harder and harder. He's married to a perhaps attractive to him at one time (but not to him anymore--if ever) vapid German Jew, and is intelligent enough to see that--times will get even worse. He hates his life, increasingly, and more and more--stands apart from it (at the beginning of the film, while he is making love to his wife, he sees himself sitting against the wall of the room, observing the operation). He seems to relate to no one, and perhaps doesn't know how to, or even want to. Gradually, he sinks into insanity. He thinks he has hatched a scheme to make a "killing,"--but he hasn't. He mearly kills.

The film is so dark, and angular, and (occasionally) arty, that only Bogarde's acting (the rest of the cast is good, too) makes it really worth owning--but it should be seen, for that reason alone. As often with depictions of the insane, one is occasionally confused as to what is really happening, and what the protagonist THINKS is happening.

It's a very cold movie, and there's nothing to laugh at. For instance: early in the film, the protagonist has travelled some distance to do business with another chocolate manufacturer--and, for some reason, starts telling him a little about his life. He mentions his wife's dowrey--her weight in gold coin. "Upon examination," he says coldly, scornfully, despairingly, "the gold coins proved to be chocolate." Ordinarily, this line might evoke laughter, but because of the way he says it, it doesn't.

There is nothing to love. The sub-title ("A Journey into Light") is almost diametrically opposed to the truth of the story.

My VHS tape played perfectly, with no halts, fading, or extraneous background noises.

If you can't wait until November, DESPAIR has already been released in reg. 2 by EuroVideo Bravo to Bavaria Media's gorgeous restored print by the original D.P. Michael Ballhaus. This was the print chosen for screening at the 2011 Cannes Classics.

SPECIAL FEATURES: ROBERT FISCHER's new documentary THE CINEMA AND ITS DOUBLE;
Gems from the archives: probing interviews with RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER;
New Interviews: leading lady, ANDREA FERREOL, Dir. of Photography MICHAEL BALLHAUS, TOM STOPPARD, screenwriter, and others.

The superb British actor DIRK BOGARDE puts in a masterful performance as a man slowly disintegrating into madness. Beautifully lit and staged, this is a film that will also make you think and then watch it again to catch nuances you missed in the first viewing. Fassbinder and Bogarde at their best.

Fully restored in HD from the film's original negative. Tom Stoppard's adaptation of a Vladimir Nabokov Novel. Starring the great Dirk Bogarde and Andrea Ferreol. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

SPECIAL FEATURE:
THE CINEMA AND ITS DOUBLE (2011) 73 minutes - In English, German and French with English Subtitles
A feature-length making-of documentary directed by ROBERT FISCHER
- NEW interviews with leading actress ANDREA FERREOL, screenwriter TOM STOPPARD, cinematographer MICHAEL BALLHAUS and other cast & crew
- Archival interviews with director RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER

Synopsis:
Based on the classic novel by Vladimir Nabokov with screenplay adaptation by Tom Stoppard. In early 1930s Germany, against the backdrop of the Nazis' rise to power, Hermann Hermann (Dirk Bogarde), a Russian emigrant and successful chocolate magnate, starts experiencing mental breakdowns. He soon meets Felix, an unemployed laborer, who Hermann believes to be his doppelganger. He hatches up an elaborate plot, which he believes will free him of all his worries and nightmares. Cinematography by legendary DP, Michael Ballhaus (Goodfellas, The Departed). Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Berlin Alexanderplatz).

Out of all the hard-to-find movies in the days of VHS & then, up until summer 2011, DVD, 'Despair' was one of the rarest. Now Olive Films have given us a beautiful transfer which is one example of how brilliant and perfect a Blu-ray disc can and should look. With the documentary of over 70 mins, this Blu-ray is well worth it! And for those of you who don't have an American Zone A Blu-ray player, don't worry, this disc is ZONE FREE!