Der Stand der Dinge (1982)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Robert Kramer (writer)
Josh Wallace (writer)

Release Date:

18 February 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

On location in Portugal, a film crew runs out of film while making their own version of Roger Corman's _Day the World Ended...

Plot Keywords:

Film In Film | Film Making | Independent Film

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Isabelle Weingarten	...	Anna
Rebecca Pauly	...	Joan
Jeffrey Kime	...	Mark
Geoffrey Carey	...	Robert
Camila Mora-Scheihing	...	Julia (as Camila Mora)
Alexandra Auder	...	Jane
Patrick Bauchau	...	Friedrich Munro
Paul Getty Jr.	...	Dennis (as J. Paul Getty III)
Viva	...	Kate
Samuel Fuller	...	Joe
Artur Semedo	...	Production Manager
Francisco Baião	...	Soundman
Robert Kramer	...	Camera Operator
Allen Garfield	...	Gordon
Roger Corman	...	The Lawyer

Also Known As:

O Estado das Coisas (Portugal)
The State of Things

Runtime:

Sweden:125 min | USA:121 min

Country:

West Germany | Portugal | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | Finland:K-11 | UK:15 (DVD rating) | UK:AA

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Gray City

Trivia:

Samuel Fuller's character is a cameraman named Joe. Fuller named him in honor of his friend and longtime cinematographer, Joseph F. Biroc.

Quotes:

Mark: You know, I take pictures, photographs, but I never really thought in black and white before I saw our rushes. Do you know what I mean? You can see the shape of things.
Joe: Life is in colour, but black and white is more realistic.

Movie Connections:

References Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961)

Soundtrack:

Girl's Imagination

the essence of things

This is not a movie that's easy to understand, yet it easily makes you think. It smells of nostalgia and of things past and fading. The film that the film crew is shooting about survivors to a nuclear holocaust is a parallel to the director's own journey to collect money from his LA producer in order to continue the film. The movie is visually beautiful, full of the magic of black and white photography. It's also a movie that constantly speaks about itself, about the hardships of shooting black and white, and about the need for "a story" which the film itself seems to lack. It tries not to be a film, but to film life. Yet, in the ordinary and particular of everyday life it conveys the eternal and universal.