25° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL

Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe

The Scarlet Letter
by Wim Wenders
Country: GFR, Spain
Year: 1972
Duration: 90'


The 17TH century. After seven years, Roger Chillingworth reaches the settlement of Salem, where his wife, Hester, lives. The woman has given birth to an illegitimate child, Pearl, but she doesn’t want to reveal the name of her lover. Chillingworth manages to discover that the girl’s father is the pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale.
To save Arthur, Hester suggests he run away but the pastor decides to publicly confess his guilt. Mother and daughter sail to England. From the shore, Roger watches them sail off.

The Scarlet Letter is about a mother. I hate to admit it, but I made some mistakes with this character. She’s the only protagonist of a film of mine for whom I felt absolutely nothing. My relationship with the girl was stronger. That’s why I wrote Alice in the Cities afterwards, starring the girl from The Scarlet Letter. I was interested by the idea of a mother and daughter. Just like I was by the earliest generations of Americans. I still like that aspect a lot. But back then I just didn’t have the means for portraying what I cared about.”

Biography

film director

Wim Wenders

After high school enrolled first at the faculty of medicine, then at the faculty of philosophy. But he eventually abandoned his studies and moved to Paris, where he dedicated himself to painting. He unsuccessfully attempted to enroll at Paris’ Idhec, then moved back to Germany in 1967, where he studied at the new Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich and also wrote for various film magazines. Between 1967 and 1969 he made his first short films, which already presented the themes and forms of his future filmography, like his careful attention to images, his love of rock music and the theme of travel. In 1969 he made his graduating film, Summer in the City, which detailed and articulated the themes of his poetics. His first feature film, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1971), brought him to the attention of international critique and in 1974 he began his “famous road trilogy,” which through the films Alice in the Cities (1974), False Movement (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976) further developed the theme of travel. By now a confirmed filmmaker, he shot The American Friend (1977) before moving to the United States to film the last days of Nicholas Ray in Lighting over Water (1980). In 1982 he won the Leone d’oro in Venice with The State of Things, which he shot in a working break during the complex production of the Hollywood film Hammett (1982), produced by Francis Coppola. In 1984 his film Paris, Texas, a new reflection on travel and America, won him the Palme d’or in Cannes. In 1987, after a side trip to Japan with Tokyo-Ga (1985), a documentary about Tokyo and Ozu, he returned to Europe and made Wings of Desire (1987). In 1991 he made Until the End of the World, a vast road movie that was distorted by distribution requirements (but whose director’s cut Wenders re-edited in 2004) and in 1993 Faraway, So Close!, a sequel to Wings of Desire that won the Jury’s Grand Prize in Cannes. In 1995, with his friend and maestro Michelangelo Antonioni, he filmed Beyond the Clouds, followed by Lisbon Story. After The End of Violence (1997), in 1998 he filmed his encounter with Ry Cooder and Cuban music, creating an extraordinarily successful documentary, Buena Vista Social Club. He returned to his beloved America for his next films: The Million Dollar Hotel (2001), whose subject was written by Bono, The Soul of a Man (2002), an episode of Martin Scorsese’s project The Blues, Land of Plenty (2004), a reflection on the post-9-11 period, and Don’t Come Knocking (2005), another collaboration with Sam Shepard, after Paris, Texas.

FILMOGRAFIA

Schauplätze (cm, 1967), Klappenfilm (cm, 1967), Victor I (cm, 1968), Same Player Shoots Again (1968), Silver City (cm, 1968), Polizeifilm (cm, 1968), Alabama (2000 Light Years) (cm, 1968), 3 Amerikanische LP’s (cm, 1969), Summer in the City (1970), Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (Prima del calcio di rigore, 1971), Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe (La lettera scarlatta, 1972), Alice in den Städten (Alice nelle città, 1974), «Ein Haus für uns» (ep. Aus der Familie der Panzerechsen; ep. Die Insel, cm, TV, 1974), Falsche Bewegung (Falso movimento, 1975), Im Lauf der Zeit (Nel corso del tempo, 1976), Der Amerikanische Freund (L’amico americano, 1977), Nick’s Film - Lightning Over Water (Nick’s Movie - Lampi sull’acqua, doc., 1980), Hammett (Hammett - Indagine a Chinatown, 1981), Der Stand der Dinge (Lo stato delle cose, 1982), Reverse Angle: NYC March ’82 (cm, doc., 1982), Chambre 666 - Cannes May ’82 (mm, doc., 1982), Paris, Texas (id., 1984), Tokyo-Ga (id., doc., 1985), Der Himmel über Berlin (Il cielo sopra Berlino, 1987), Aufzeichnungen zu Kleidern und Städten (Appunti di viaggio su moda e città, doc., 1989), Bis ans Ende der Welt (Fino alla fine del mondo, 1991), Arisha, der Bär und der steinerne Ring (Arisha, l’orso e l’anello di pietra, mm, 1992), In weiter Ferne, so nah! (Così lontano così vicino!, 1993), Lisbon Story (id., 1994), Al di là delle nuvole (1995), Lumière et compagnie (ep. Berlin, cm, 1995), Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (I fratelli Skladanowsky, 1996), The End of Violence (Crimini invisibili, 1997), Willie Nelson at the Teatro (mm, doc., 1998), Buena Vista Social Club (id., 1999), The Million Dollar Hotel (id., 1999), Viel passiert. Der BAP Film (doc., 2002), Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (ep. Twelve Miles to Trona, cm, 2002), The Soul of a Man (L’anima di un
uomo
, doc., 2003), Land of Plenty (La terra dell’abbondanza, 2004), Don’t Come Knocking (Non bussare alla mia porta, 2005), Invisibles (ep. Invisible Crimes, cm, 2006).

Videoclip

U2, Night and Day (1990), Talking Heads, Sax and Violins (1991), U2, Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (1993), Madredeus, Céu da Mouraria (1995), Madredeus, Alfama (1995), Willie Nelson, I Never Cared for You (1998), U2, The Ground Beneath Her Feet (2000), Die Toten Hosen, Warum werde ich nicht satt? (2000), Eels, Souljacker part I (2002), BAP, Schluss, Aus, Okay (2002), Idlewild, Live in a Hiding Place (2002).

Cast

& Credits

regia, sceneggiatura/director, screenplay Wim Wenders
soggetto/story dal romanzo/from the novel Der Herr klagt über sein Volk in der Wildnis Amerika di/by Tankred Dorst e/and Ursula Ehler, basato sul romanzo/based on the novel The Scarlet Letter di/by Nathaniel Hawthorne
sceneggiatura/screenplay Wim Wenders, Bernardo Fernandez
fotografia/director of photography Robby Müller
scenografia/set design Manfred Lütz, Adolfo Cofino
costumi/costume design Carmen Marin
montaggio/film editor Peter Przygodda
musica/music Jürgen Knieper
suono/sound Christian Schubert
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters Senta Berger (Hester Prynne), Hans Christian Blech (Roger Chillingworth), Lou Castel (Arthur Dimmesdale), Yelena Samarina (Hibbins), Yella Rottländer (Pearl), William Layton (Bellingham), Alfredo Mayo (Fuller), Angel Alvarez (Wilson), Rafael Albaicin (l’indiano/indian), Laura Currie (Sarah), Tito Garcia (il banditore/crier), Lorenzo Robledo (il capitano/captain), José Villasante (il bottegaio/storekeeper), Rüdiger Vogler (il marinaio/sailor)
produzione/production Produktion 1 im Filmverlag der Autoren, Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L., Westdeutscher Rundfunk
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