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Poster for Despair

1978 | 117 min | Drama, Thriller

Weeknight Watchearly rating

Why it’s a Weeknight Watch

With soft box office and little lasting buzz, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
Made for anyone who likes to be kept guessing.
The mood
Tense.
The pace
Takes its time with its characters, at 1 hr 57 min.
What might put you off
Made in 1978: an older pace and style.

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.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsNot counted

    Not enough reviews on record yet

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsNot counted

    Awards data unavailable, so this isn't counted

  • Reach & staying powerBelow par

    Streaming release that reached a small audience so far; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactBelow par

    About 13K people sought it out in the past year

Trailer

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Cast & crew

Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

  • Dirk BogardeHermann Hermann
  • Andréa FerréolLydia Hermann
  • Klaus LöwitschFelix Weber
  • Volker SpenglerArdalion
  • Bernhard WickiOrlovius
  • Armin MeierSilverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
  • Peter KernMüller
  • Adrian HovenInspector Schelling
  • Alexander AllersonMayer
  • Hark BohmDoctor