Wings of Desire (1987) poster6

Germany10 Essential German FilmsStop 6 of 10

Wings of Desire

Der Himmel über Berlin

1987 · 128 min · Drama

Invisible angels drift through a divided Berlin, listening to the private thoughts of its lonely inhabitants, until one of them, moved by a melancholy trapeze artist, begins to long for the messy, mortal joys of human life. Wim Wenders's soaring, poetic reverie.

Why it’s here

Wim Wenders’s poetic portrait of divided Berlin is a defining late work of New German Cinema.

Runtime
128 min
Genre
Drama · Fantasy · Romance
Mood
romantic · thoughtful · dreamlike
Entry
some context
Best for
character-driven drama

Content notes: sexual content Non-exhaustive

Return to the complete listFilm notesWatch options

Part of 10 Essential German Films

This film is stop 6 of 10 in the hand-ranked native-cinema route through Germany. See the complete ranking or read the selection methodology.

FilmsAroundThe.World is a hand-curated atlas of world cinema with ranked country guides. It has no ads or accounts; anonymous aggregate page views and product milestones are measured with Vercel Web Analytics. Open the map, follow a curated route, or read the methodology.