MOVIE · 1987

Wings of Desire

DramaFantasyRomance128 min

Bruno Ganz is Damiel, one of two angels drifting above a divided Berlin, listening to the private fears and hopes of the people below while offering comfort they can’t see. He and his companion Cassiel watch over libraries, streets, and the wall itself, never entering human life, until Damiel becomes fixated on Marion, a solitary trapeze artist played by Solveig Dommartin. As his longing shifts from observing life to touching it, the film moves through circuses, city rooftops, and whispered interior monologues, with Peter Falk turning up as himself to suggest that crossing into the human world may be possible.