Despair (1978) on Netflix
Berlin, in the Weimar Republic. Hermann Hermann, a refugee from Soviet Russia, makes chocolate and wants out of his life. Then he meets Felix, a drifter he takes for his double.
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- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
Hermann Hermann is a refugee from Soviet Russia who inherited a chocolate business in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. His wife Lydia is voluptuous but not intelligent, and keeps a close relationship with her cousin Ardalion, a painter who has never married. The Great Depression bites, Nazi thugs target Jewish businesses, the firm becomes less profitable and Germany less hospitable, and Hermann dreams of escape. He has had moments of leaving his body, and consults a man he takes for a Viennese psychiatrist; the man actually sells life insurance, and Hermann buys a policy. After watching a film about a doppelgänger, he sees Felix, an unemployed drifter, and decides the man is his double. Felix notices no likeness and agrees to the arrangement once Hermann offers him work.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Despair (1978)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Despair was Rainer Werner Fassbinder's first English-language film and his most expensive to date, costing $2.6 million. His earlier films had budgets below $300,000.
