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Wim Wenders
Biography from Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film
Occupation: Director, screenwriter
Also: Producer, author, photographer
Birth Name: Ernst Wilhelm Wenders
Born: August 14, 1945, Düsseldorf, Germany
Education: University of Freiburg (philosophy, medicine); Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen, Munich
One of the best known directors of the New German Cinema, Wenders is often
characterized as the "existentialist" of the movement. Stylistically, his films
blend Hollywood forms and genres with elements of counter-cinema. Thematically, his films
attempt to disclose states of consciousness - loneliness, irresolution, anxiety - and explore
the ambivalent impact of American culture on post-WWII German life. "All my
films," Wenders claims, "have as their underlying current the Americanization of
Germany." No other German filmmaker has dealt more extensively or more obsessively
with the American presence in the European unconscious.
Wenders's fascination with
American culture began in his childhood. He grew up at a time when American culture
provided a diversion for West Germans eager to forget their own past. Extremely shy and
introspective as a teenager, Wenders planned to study for the priesthood, but this desire
soon gave way to an interest in American music and American film. After studying medicine
and philosophy at the University of Freiburg and painting in Paris, Wenders enrolled in
Munich's film school, where he made several student films between 1967 and 1970.
His first
professional feature, The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1971), attracted
considerable critical attention. The film is based on a novel by Peter Handke, a Wenders
friend who would write Wrong Move (1975) and collaborate with Wenders on
Wings of Desire
(1988).
After
The Scarlet Letter (1973), his least
satisfying work, Wenders made Alice in the Cities (1974), Wrong Move (1975) and
Kings of the Road (1976) - a trilogy of "road movies" that exemplifies his formal and
thematic concerns. The best of the three, Kings, focuses on the relationship that develops
between two men as they travel in a van along the border between East and West Germany.
Lonely and introspective, they both long for the company of women. By the end of their
journey, they derive comfort from the fact that "in the course of time" (the
film's German title) their lives have taken on some shape and some significance.
Kings of the Road is a quiet, almost lyrical film that disdains psychological motivation, suspense
and dramatic tension. In that sense, it reflects Wenders's admiration for the films of
Yasujiro Ozu. But in its intricate allusions and resonant implications, it evokes
Wenders's favorite themes: the difficulties of communication, the Americanization of
German life ("The Yanks have colonized our subconscious," one of the characters
says) and the fate of German cinema.
In The American
Friend (1977), a film that won Wenders international attention, the director continues to explore these themes. Based on
Patricia Highsmith's novel, Ripley's Game, the film depicts the last few weeks in the life
of Jonathan (Bruno Ganz), a picture restorer and frame maker living quietly in Hamburg. The
real interest of the film, however, is the friendship that develops between Jonathan and
Ripley (Dennis Hopper), an American underworld figure who manipulates Jonathan into
committing a series of murders. Jonathan finds himself irresistibly drawn to Ripley, even
as he is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the friendship. This story allows Wenders to
focus on German/American cultural tensions and to explore the exigencies of international
filmmaking dominated by Hollywood and American interests. (Two of Wenders's American
idols, directors Nicholas Ray and Sam Fuller, play minor roles in the film.) In 1978
Wenders came to the United States under contract to direct Hammett for Francis Ford
Coppola. After numerous problems with the script and conflicts with Coppola, less than 30
percent of Wenders's original film was retained in the final version, released in 1983.
Wenders indirectly documented his problems with Hammett in The State
of Things (1982), a
self-referential film that contrasts European and American ways of making films.
Paris, Texas (1984), based on a script by Sam Shepard about a reunion between a drifter and his
family, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1984 and represents in many ways the culmination
of themes that run through Wenders's earlier films. Wenders returned to Berlin to make
Wings of
Desire, a lyrical, largely black-and-white meditation starring Bruno Ganz as an
angel who wanders the city, yearning for a physical, human existence. The relative
commercial success of the film, which earned Wenders the Best Director Award at Cannes in
1987, led to the production of a sequel in 1993.
Until the End of
the World (1991) is a
metaphysical detective romp of global dimensions, with William Hurt, Sam Neill, Solveig
Dommartin and others pursuing each other around the world in search of a camera that
enables blind people to "see." Half a post-modernist road movie, half
self-indulgent meditation on the nature of the recorded image, the result is a
disappointingly banal exploration of some of Wenders's most cherished themes. Wenders's
Wings of Desire sequel,
Faraway, So
Close! (1993), proved to be even less coherent,
running well over two hours with little of the lyrical elegance of Wings of
Desire. Coming
after the disappointment of Until the End of the World, Wenders's recent films have
represented a significant downturn in the director's critical and audience reception.
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