Until the End of the World

". . . the ultimate road movie"

1991 2h 38m DE

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 255

DramaScience FictionAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.

“. . . the ultimate road movie”

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Cast

Solveig Dommartin
Claire Tourneur
William Hurt
Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
Sam Neill
Eugene Fitzpatrick
Rüdiger Vogler
Phillip Winter
Max von Sydow
Henry Farber
Jeanne Moreau
Edith Farber
Ernie Dingo
Burt
Chick Ortega
Chico Remy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Wim Wenders
Writers: Wim Wenders, Solveig Dommartin, Wim Wenders
Languages: English, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese, German
Countries: Germany, Australia, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 3% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

35 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 8 languages: English, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Germany, Australia, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Wim Wenders, shot by Robby Müller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Przygodda shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Wim Wenders directs. Robby Müller behind the camera. Graeme Revell scores. Peter Przygodda cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Germany, Australia, France. Dialogue in English, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Earned back only 3% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
335 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 8 languages: English, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese, German.
5International production across 3 countries: Germany, Australia, France.
6Directed by Wim Wenders, shot by Robby Müller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Peter Przygodda shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Solveig Dommartin and William Hurt and Sam Neill carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: ". . . the ultimate road movie".
11IMDB entry: tt0101458 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Robby Müller
Original score: Graeme Revell
Editing: Peter Przygodda
Production design: Sally Campbell
Costume design: Montserrat Casanova
Makeup / hair: Thi-Loan Nguyen
Runtime: 158 min · 2h 38m
Status: Released
Budget: $23,000,000
Box office: $752,856
Return: 3% of budget
Original language: DE
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Until the End of the World (1991)

Also by

Wim Wenders

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2024-03-15
★ 2/10
A Pharaonic work that went terribly wrong. Have you ever tried to do something extremely complicated and ambitious and failed because of the enormity of what you were trying to do? I bet that even those to whom this has never happened will be able to name some examples: Pharaonic public works that went wrong or never came to fruition in full, private projects and companies that failed because of their own mistakes. There will be no shortage of examples, and I think we can add this film to that list, since the main flaw stems from the ambitions of its creator. Wim Wenders is one of the great German directors of our time and no one can deny him this merit, not even those who don't really appreciate his style, or who criticize him (with some propriety) for having transformed, in recent years, into that kind of director that he criticized at the beginning of his career. However, what he wanted to do in this film was a task far beyond his capabilities and ingenuity. An epic lasting more than twenty hours that was condensed into a summary of three and a half hours and, years later, partially restored in the form of the “director's version”, lasting almost six hours. I made the mistake of trying to see precisely the latter, believing that I was seeing the version closest to the creator's vision. However, what he gives us is so uninteresting and so confusing that I wasted my time. The story begins with the threat of an Indian nuclear satellite, which will crash to earth, and then introduces Claire, a young woman who seems to be looking for a direction in her life in the midst of a futile existence. After a car accident in which she meets two bank robbers, she agrees to take the stolen money to Paris, in exchange for a percentage. In the midst of this, she helps a mysterious man who appears to be fleeing from a murderer and who steals some of her money. Committed to recovering him, she follows him around the world and ends up hiring a private detective. As I believe you can already understand from this summary, the plot is not devoid of good ideas and had potential. With the characters always on the move, traveling the world, the film is not monotonous and has some potential for light comedy (although Wenders' humor is completely German, and we know what that means). However, the film gets lost in constant twists and turns that go nowhere. Circulating from one country to another, the plot wastes hours of our lives in a story without substance or content. Wenders doesn't spare us and gives us long scenes where the characters drive cars, walk or make phone calls. He looks like a five-year-old kid who starts telling his parents the most complicated story just to ask for a toy he saw in a store. This is what ruins the film and makes it unbearable. Oh, and of course, the issue of the falling satellite ends up completely forgotten in all this. The production values are quite good considering it's a European film and the millions from the Hollywood machine are absent from the equation. Wenders managed to create some somewhat futuristic elements such as public telephones with video calling or police motorcycles with a bold and bizarre appearance. The urban settings seem hostile, with all sorts of trash and graffiti. The cinematography is magnificent, and the director makes the most of it, as is usual in the films he makes, but on the other hand, the soundtrack is virtually inaudible and does not add any quality to the final work. Solveig Dammartin was a good choice for the main character. She is elegant, and gives her character a special charm throughout the film. Unfortunately, she can't do miracles with the material given to her. Sam Neill also makes the most of the occasion in the best way he can, but the film is far from being one of the best of his career, and the same can be said of William Hurt. Both are committed, and the work of this trio of actors ends up being the most redeeming value that the film has to present to us. Unfortunately, they are stuck with the incoming material, which completely kills their efforts.

Production companies