Wrong Move (Falsche Bewegung)
Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Peter Handke based on Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahr by J.W. Goethe
1975/West Germany
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

“The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wim Wenders’ modernization of Goethe is beautiful to look at but the meandering narrative did not grab me.

Wilhelm (Rudiger Volger) wants to write.  His mother buys him a ticket to Bonn from their small home town, gives him money from the sale of their apartment, and encourages him to “live”.  He makes various stops on his way and collects an eclectic and eccentric group of hangers on.

On the train he meets an old man who sings and plays the harmonica.  The man also ran in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and has an untold story about his Nazi past.  The man is accompanied by his twelve-year-old niece Mignon (Nastassja Kinski in her film debut), who is a street performer and has not a line of dialogue.  Then through a window, Wilhelm glimpses actress Therese (Hanna Schygulla) on a passing train.  He is filled with longing.

The party is completed by a morose would-be poet.  Somehow the group catches up to Therese and begins traveling in her car.  The poet says he will take them to his uncle’s house but they end up in the wrong place and interrupt a man attempting to commit suicide. He takes them in.  Therese would like to establish a connection with Wilhelm but, though he lusts for her, he remains aloof.  The group splits up and Wllhelm ends up in the mountains where he can’t find what he is looking for either.

Wenders paints a picture of Germany worthy of any travelogue that made me ready to board the next plane there.  Other than that though, it is one of those movies that is light on plot and dialogue, except of the nebulous existential kind.  It’s the second of Wenders’ Road Trilogy, and the lowest rated.  I understand why.