Wim Wenders: Falsche Bewegung / Wrong Move

Falsche Bewegung (1975), as with all of the Wim Wenders works I've seen, plays out like a quintessentially independent film. Here, a small and finely acted ensemble cast of characters roams through city and country by rail, foot and car over the period of less than a week. Wilhelm, a self-styled struggling writer in his thirties, is pushed out of the nest by his mother. It's unclear, but I suspect his father was killed in the Second World War. In any case, Wilhelm takes a train for Bonn and soon two vagabonds hitch up with him, seeing he has some money to spare. They are a German father, World War II veteran who'd been a runner during the 1936 Olympics, and his young mute daughter Mignon (French for "cute" or "dainty"). Down the line they are joined by Therese, a stage actress, and Bernhard, a young monied Austrian who dallies in poetry. These disparate characters look to Wilhelm for guidance or leadership, but he seems capable of neither. "It Ain't Me, Babe," he might as well reference, but he's no Bob Dylan. Bernhard takes them to his rich uncle's estate -- when they arrive, it is unclear if the man really is his uncle. Slow antics ensue, angst pervades the air, they move on. Wilhelm eventually goes to the top of a mountain and wonders if he's made the "wrong movement" of the title. Perhaps they all have.

Loosely based on (more inspired by) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1795/6 novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre / Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Falsche Bewegung has the tonal feel of Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) and Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952).

Main actors on the road: Rüdiger Vogler (Wilhelm); Hans Christian Blech -- my favorite in this film -- as Mignon's father, Laertes; Hanna Schygulla (Therese); Nastassja Kinski (Mignon), barely in her teens, in her film debut;  Peter Kern (Bernhard); and Ivan Desny as the latter's "uncle."

Robby Müller's cinematography is superb, setting buildings and background scenery in more "real" context -- as in life -- than is typical in flashier films.  I also like the way sounds come off, as well as the accompanying music, all important elements in a Wenders film, especially given the relatively sporadic nature of dialogue and action.

Today's Rune: Warrior.