Chocolate, cuckoldry and doppelganger delusion abound in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's stunning English language adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov interwar novel. The chocolate business has been good to Russian exile Hermann. He enjoys the good life with his beautiful wife Lydia. But Hermann is addicted to out-of-body experiences and when he meets a tramp on a business trip, he develops an insane plan of escape. Featuring international stars Dirk Bogarde (Death in Venice) and Andra Ferrol (La Grande Bouffe) and adapted by British dramatist Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love),... Fassbinder’s Despair is a vivid off-kilter masterwork set against the background of the Nazis in ascendance. This DVD version of Fassbinder’s ‘most optimistic film’ is accompanied by exclusive bonus material. Extras: Documentary “The Cinema and It’ Double” (70 minutes) Image gallery [show more]
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Widely considered to be Fassbinder's masterpiece, this adaptation of Nabokov's novel charts the descent into madness of wealthy chocolate factory owner Hermann Herman (Dirk Bogarde). In 1930s Berlin, Russian-born émigré Herman lives a luxurious but vapid life with his wife, Lydia (Andrea Ferreol), who is having an affair with Herman's painter brother, Ardalion (Volker Spengler). Racked with existential doubt and crippled by cynicism, Herman hatches an elaborate plot involving homeless man Felix Weber (Klaus Löwitsch) in an attempt to free himself of his mental tortures - but only ends up driving himself to the brink of full-blown insanity.
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