Der Stand der Dinge

The State of Things

Wim Wenders' black and white film – which was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival – belongs to that rich subgenre of New German Cinema which focuses on filmmaking itself: On the coast of Portugal, an international film crew is shooting the remake of a Science Fiction-classic, when the lack of financial support brings the production to a grinding halt. Since patience in not an option, director Friedrich Munro travels to Hollywood where he plans to confront his producer Gordon. But Gordon is busy dealing with his very own problems – more and more clearly, the struggle of finishing the picture becomes a struggle of life itself. "Death", as one of the last lines of dialogue in "The State of Things" points out, "is the biggest story of them all."