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Despair (1978)

Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder · Cinematography by Michael Ballhaus

119 min63 frames

DramaThriller

A hysterical comedy

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Stills, screencaps & shots from Despair

16 of 63 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.

Despair (1978) movie still: medium — A dimly lit room with dark, patterned wallpaper provides a somber setting. A man in a suit gazes into a small…Despair (1978) movie still: wide — A brick courtyard features a large purple sign and a vintage delivery carriage. A man in a dark coat approaches…Despair (1978) movie still: medium — A woman sits in a wooden folding chair within a tall grassy meadow. She looks over her shoulder toward the…Despair (1978) movie still: wide — A furnished interior featuring patterned upholstered seating and a metallic glass display shelf. A man and a…Despair (1978) movie still: closeup — Two middle-aged men stand together in a dimly lit, austere room with white walls. They observe their own…Despair (1978) movie still: closeup — A dimly lit room with heavy curtains in the background and a dark foreground. A middle-aged man rests his face…Despair (1978) movie still: medium — A dimly lit bar interior features a glowing glass lamp on a wooden counter. A man in a dark suit leans toward a…Despair (1978) movie still: wide — A cobblestone street in front of a German butcher shop with stone architecture. Several soldiers in uniform…Despair (1978) movie still: closeup — A dark indoor space serves as the backdrop for a portrait of a woman. A blonde woman with vintage hairstyle…Despair (1978) movie still: establishing — A quiet village nestled in a valley with dark wooden houses and snow-capped peaks. An overcast sky looms…Despair (1978) movie still: wide — An outdoor cafe setting features men playing chess at tables in front of a building. A German soldier with a red…Despair (1978) movie still: medium — A dark, vintage automobile interior at night with limited ambient light from outside. A man and a blonde woman…Despair (1978) movie still: medium — An open green meadow with blurred trees in the background under daylight. A middle-aged man in a leather jacket…Despair (1978) movie still: wide — A dark movie theater auditorium contains an audience silhouetted against the bright projected image. A…Despair (1978) movie still: medium — A dimly lit interior room at night features a man in a tuxedo.Despair (1978) movie still: closeup — A dimly lit room with heavy shadows casting the surroundings in near darkness. A young man with dark hair…
Despair (1978) — © Bavaria Studios

Despair — official trailer

What is Despair about?

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.

Despair is a 1978 psychological historical-drama film directed and co-edited by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, adapted by Tom Stoppard from Vladimir Nabokov's 1934 novel. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Andréa Ferréol, Klaus Löwitsch, Volker Spengler and Bernhard Wicki.

Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who stars in Despair?

Who made Despair?

What does the cinematography of Despair look like?

Across 62 sampled frames, Despair builds its coverage from medium shots (45% of the sample), with close-ups (37%) carrying much of the rest. Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus keeps 60% of it in soft, low-key light. 58% of the frames play at night or in the failing light of dusk. Vintage glass shapes the frame. Focus stays shallow in 79% of the frames, isolating subjects from their surroundings.

What is the color palette of Despair?

The dominant colors across the sampled frames of Despair (1978) are #312e2a, #121110, #53524d, #96938b, #ada798, #75706d — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.

  • #312e2a
  • #121110
  • #53524d
  • #96938b
  • #ada798
  • #75706d

See the full Despair colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.

A reference database for filmmakers

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Techniques in this film

More films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

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