In West Berlin, 2 angels wander around listening to the inner thoughts of the people who live there. Then one of them falls in love with a trapeze artist and chooses to become mortal. Wim Wenders made a quiet, thoughtful film about having a body, about history and about the things in being alive that nothing can replace.
Wings of Desire is a 1987 drama, fantasy and romance film directed by Wim Wenders. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 cinematography, 1 editing and 1 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Schindler's List uses several of the same techniques.
Choosing to shoot in black and white to take away the comfort and pleasure of color. The film feels more serious, and you watch as a witness.
How this film uses it
The angels see the world in black and white. It looks beautiful and eternal, but they can't feel anything in it. When Damiel becomes human, the film switches to color. From then on, color means being alive, which includes suffering and feeling warmth.
Where to see it
Damiel's fall into mortality. Color floods the image. The black and white of the angels' watching gives way to the deep red of his first mortal blood.
Adding 1 colored element to an otherwise black-and-white image, or a brief color sequence to a black-and-white film. The contrast pulls your eye and gives that color a lot of meaning.
How this film uses it
Before Damiel fully changes, Wenders shows brief, isolated moments of color, such as Marion on the trapeze. They are not from an angel's point of view. They hint that the human world holds something the angels can't see. The flashes arrive before his fall is complete.
Where to see it
The isolated color flashes as Damiel's desire grows. Patches of color show up in the black-and-white world. They mark his move toward having a body before the full change.
Placing the camera where a character's eyes are, or shooting the scene the way that character experiences it. You see and feel things from inside their head.
How this film uses it
The angels' wandering is filmed from their own point of view. The camera floats, drifts with no gravity, passes through walls and settles next to ordinary people who don't notice it. For a while, you get to be an angel yourself. You experience the city's inner life weightlessly and with access to everything.
Where to see it
The library sequence. The camera drifts through the reading room and settles beside individual readers. The angel's point of view lets you into every private thought in the room.
Cutting to an image from outside the story's time and place, such as a memory, fantasy or symbol. It shows what a character feels or comments on the scene.
How this film uses it
The angels can hear what people are thinking, and the film gives you this as non-diegetic sound, meaning sound nobody in the story's world could hear. We hear the thoughts of people on the subway, in libraries and on rooftops. These inner monologues are the film's main emotional material.
Where to see it
The subway sequences. You hear the passengers' inner voices as sound from outside the story's world. The city's shared inner life becomes audible to the angels and to you at the same time.
Building up to a big emotional release slowly, by investing in the characters and giving small bits of hope. When the release comes, it feels deserved after all the suffering.
How this film uses it
Damiel's first sensations as a mortal are the taste of coffee, the warmth of hands and the color of blood. They are the film's emotional release. Wenders spends the entire film showing what angels can't feel. When Damiel finally feels it, having a body seems like a miracle he has won back. As cliche as it sounds, it's the same thing you'd normally take for granted.
Where to see it
Damiel's first mortal morning. The coffee, the color and the warmth are listed as ecstatic discoveries. The release comes from ordinary experience turning extraordinary.
Questions
Wings of Desire: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Wings of Desire use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Wings of Desire (1987): Black-and-White as Moral Urgency, Isolated Color Insert, Subjective Camera, Non-Diegetic Insert and Earned Catharsis.
Who directed Wings of Desire?
Wim Wenders directed Wings of Desire, released in 1987. CineCode also covers Paris, Texas (1984).
What films are similar to Wings of Desire?
Films that share techniques with Wings of Desire include Schindler's List (1993), Rashomon (1950), The Tree of Life (2011), Belfast (2021).
