Despair (film)

Despair
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRainer Werner Fassbinder
Screenplay byTom Stoppard
Based onDespair
by Vladimir Nabokov
StarringDirk Bogarde
Andréa Ferréol
Klaus Löwitsch
Volker Spengler
CinematographyMichael Ballhaus
Edited byReginald Beck[1][2]
Juliane Lorenz
Franz Walsch
Music byPeer Raben
Distributed byFilmverlag der Autoren (West Germany)
New Line Cinema (USA)
Release dates
  • 1978 (1978) (West Germany)
  • 1979 (1979) (USA)
Running time
120
CountryWest Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget6 million DM ($2.6 million[3])

Despair is a 1978 film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Dirk Bogarde, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. It was Fassbinder's first English-language film and was entered into the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.[4]

Similarly to the novel, the tone of the film is ironic. The plot is mostly similar to the novel, although one of the key characters is significantly altered in the adaptation.

  1. ^ Some sources do not credit Beck's editing, but the listing submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for Academy Award consideration does include him as an editor. The listing does not include Franz Walsch, a pseudonym for Fassbinder, who is often credited as an editor, but it does include Fassbinder. See "Index to Motion Picture Credits: Despair". Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  2. ^ Le Cain, Maximilian (December 2003). "Dreams of Fassbinder: An Interview with Juliane Lorenz". Senses of Cinema (29). But I learned editing that night… We really created the film anew in one night because Rainer had an English editor, Reginald Beck, who started the editing but they didn't get along. I took it over and we created a new story.
  3. ^ "Pressman, Now In California, Sets Six Features For Release". Variety. May 31, 1978. p. 38.
  4. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Despair". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-05-12.