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65% Critic Match
Despair
“A hysterical comedy”
6.5 / 10• 1978• 1h 57m•NR• English
DramaThriller
Storyline
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.
Cast & Crew
Dirk Bogarde
Hermann Hermann
Lead
Andréa Ferréol
Lydia Hermann
Klaus Löwitsch
Felix Weber
Volker Spengler
Ardalion
Bernhard Wicki
Orlovius
Armin Meier
Silverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
Peter Kern
Müller
Adrian Hoven
Inspector Schelling
What People Are Saying
4.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Rainer Werner Fassbinder's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
3.0
“Every frame feels alive. Despair is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
