Despair (1978)

6.5 | Sep 20, 1978 (DE) | Drama, Thriller | 01:57

berlin, germany husband wife relationship based on novel or book businessman chocolate identity paranoia identity crisis attempt to escape painter republic of weimar alienation antisemitism mental illness madness assumed identity doppelgänger insurance policy double vagrant nazism foreshadowing russian emigre murder plot 1930s perfect murder self image film within a film performative dissociation jewish ancestry jewish wife rise of fascism rise of nazism victimhood

A hysterical comedy

Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.