Despair (1978)
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder · Cinematography by Michael Ballhaus
119 min63 frames
DramaThriller
A hysterical comedy
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 — 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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