Despair (1978)

Overview · Where to watch · Cast & crew · Reviews

A hysterical comedy

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.

• Released: 1978-09-20
• Genres: Drama, Thriller
• Runtime: 1h 57m
• Status: Released
• TMDB rating: 6.5/10 from 48 votes

Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Top cast

• Dirk Bogarde as Hermann Hermann
• Andréa Ferréol as Lydia Hermann
• Klaus Löwitsch as Felix Weber
• Volker Spengler as Ardalion
• Bernhard Wicki as Orlovius
• Armin Meier as Silverman / Sergeant Brown / Foreman
• Peter Kern as Müller
• Adrian Hoven as Inspector Schelling
• Alexander Allerson as Mayer
• Hark Bohm as Doctor

Full cast & crew

Where to watch Despair

Despair isn't currently listed on a major streaming service in the US, UK, India, Canada or Australia. Availability changes often — add it to your FlickPicker watchlist to get an alert when it lands on a service you subscribe to.

Movies like Despair

If you enjoyed Despair, these movies have a similar feel:

• Alone in Berlin (2016)
• The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
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• Woman in Gold (2015)
• FX's A Christmas Carol (2019)
• My Neighbor Adolf (2022)
• The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
• The Zone of Interest (2023)
• Topaz (1969)
• Eye of the Needle (1981)
• The Third Man (1949)
• The Devil's Arithmetic (1999)

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