In weiter Ferne, so nah!

In weiter Ferne, so nah! (released in English as Faraway, So Close!) is a 1993 fantasy drama film directed by Wim Wenders and the sequel to his 1987 film Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin). Set in Berlin three years after the fall of the Wall, it follows the angel Cassiel, who gives up his immortality to save a child's life and must find his way in the reunited, morally uncertain city.^{1 • 2} The film competed at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix du Jury.¹

Production

Wenders shot the film from 14 July to 3 October 1992 in Berlin and at the Schiffshebewerk Niederfinow boat lift, three years after the fall of the Wall.² Berlin had become a different city, and Wenders judged that he could best tell that change with the same figures from the first film.² Whereas Wings of Desire had been forbidden to shoot in East Berlin, the sequel could balance its portrait across the whole reunited city.⁸

The production was a German-American co-production of Road Movies Filmproduktion and Tobis Filmkunst, with Ulrich Felsberg as executive producer and world sales handled by HanWay Films.^{1 • 2} Wenders told the Christian Science Monitor that he had expected the film to be less ambitious than Wings of Desire, but it turned out to cost twice as much; he considered the earlier film a "poem" while the sequel was an "explicit" examination of the issues embodied by his angel characters.⁹

Cast and cameos

Wenders assembled what he called the most improbable casting he had ever put together.² Heinz Rühmann, the beloved German actor born in 1902, appears as the old man Konrad in his final film role; he died in 1994.¹⁰ Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet president, plays a world leader who sits at his desk and dreams of global peace, a cameo the Christian Science Monitor called the most unexpected of the year.⁹ Lou Reed appears as himself, strumming a new song, and Peter Falk returns in an expanded appearance as "Himself".¹¹ Henri Alekan, cinematographer of the first film, has a walk-on part as a ship's captain in the final sequence.^{8 • 12}

Music

Laurent Petitgand wrote the romantic score, with David Darling contributing solo cello.^{8 • 2} The soundtrack contrasts the score with contemporary songs by Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, U2, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, Jane Siberry, and others; Nick Cave's "Cassiel's Song" accompanies the end titles.^{8 • 2} U2's song "Stay", written by Bono with music by Adam Clayton, The Edge, and Larry Mullen Jr., was nominated for the 1994 Golden Globe for Best Original Song.¹³

Release and reception

The film premiered in competition at Cannes in May 1993. Reception there was cool; the Christian Science Monitor reported that it "was not received with much enthusiasm", even though admirers secured the special Grand Jury Prize on closing night.⁹ The German theatrical release followed on 9 September 1993.²

Critical response was divided. On Metacritic the film scored 61 out of 100 from 17 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews; Caryn James of The New York Times called it "lyrical and profoundly goofy" and "one of the more intriguing messes on screen".³ Rotten Tomatoes records 54% positive among 13 critics.⁴ Time Out found the film a sprawling disappointment lacking any sense of form, while the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas judged it a demanding but rewarding meditation that could be taken as an allegory of the coming together of the two Germanys.^{11 • 8}

Runtime figures differ across sources: the German federal film portal lists the original at 146 minutes, the Cannes festival page gives 165 minutes, and several home-video and review listings give 140 or 144 minutes; the German theatrical version was cut by 22 minutes relative to the Cannes version.^{1 • 5 • 14}

Assessment

The film's standing rests on a tension its commentators describe consistently: Otto Sander's gentle, wistful Cassiel and Jürgen Jürges's camera work, honored with the German Film Award, carry a poetic, warm-hearted parable, while the crime-thriller plot around Tony Baker is widely judged trivial and poorly timed.^{14 • 7} German-language critics added that the film risks dissolving into side plots on post-Wall commerce, organized crime, and the Nazi past, and that Wenders appears to quote his own earlier work.^{14 • 15} The film nonetheless remains the canonical continuation of Wings of Desire, read as a portrait of Berlin after reunification, with the rubble of Potsdamer Platz giving way to the mirrored towers of capitalism.¹⁶

References

1. In weiter Ferne, so nah!, filmportal.de
2. In weiter Ferne, so nah!, Wim Wenders Stiftung
3. Faraway, So Close! critic reviews, Metacritic
4. Faraway, So Close!, Rotten Tomatoes
5. IN WEITER FERNE, SO NAH!, Festival de Cannes
6. In weiter Ferne, so nah! (English page), filmportal.de
7. In weiter Ferne, so nah!, Dieter Wunderlich review and synopsis
8. Kevin Thomas, "'Faraway, So Close': Wim Wenders' Spiritual Odyssey", Los Angeles Times, 21 December 1993
9. David Sterritt, "Director Wim Wenders's Angels", Christian Science Monitor, 16 December 1993
10. In weiter Ferne, so nah!, cinema.de
11. Faraway, So Close review, Time Out
12. Duncan Shepherd review, San Diego Reader
13. In weiter Ferne, so nah! awards, IMDb
14. In weiter Ferne, so nah!, Filmdienst review
15. In weiter Ferne, so nah, wissen.de lexicon
16. Wim Wenders screening schedule, MoMA press

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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