Le monde sur le fil

Recently rediscovered TV film made by Fassbinder in the mid-70s, it's an early film dealing with the sci-fi concept of virtual reality. The subject became really popular in the late 90s with the mega-hit The Matrix and several other more cultish flicks like Dark City, eXistenZ and The Thirteenth Floor (which was actually based on the same novel as World on a Wire). This is notably less cheesy than a lot of 70s sci-fi, though 70s styles are ever-present in the decor. I don't know if I'd say it's as fun as some of those cheesy 70s sci-fis, though. The film is split into two parts, and, as a whole, runs about three and a half hours. They probably could have cut it down a lot, because it really drags at times. The one thing I really love about it is the visuals. It might be Fassbinder's most visually resplendent work. I doubt someone watching it on a television screen in 1973 (probably the great majority watched it in black and white) could have appreciated the gorgeousness of it. The Criterion Blu Ray is gorgeous and very unique looking. As long as it was, the visuals always kept me enthralled. Like a lot of early Fassbinder films, it's a bit dry and could use some more interesting characters - he became a much better director starting around this same time when he started embracing melodrama.

First of all, this film is nearly impossible to get a grip on, but the upcoming Fassbinder DVD-Collection (Code 2!) hopefully includes this one. If you are fond of virtual reality stories (and capable of understanding the German language) you might want to look for a video-hunt. This film is truly fascinating, with a great cast of famous (and sometimes notorious...) German actors. It foreshadows everything about VR - because it is the first adaption of the novel "Simulacron", on which "13th Floor" is based as well. "Welt am Draht" is brilliantly shot by Michael Ballhaus and Ulrich Prinz. Although I am not a fan of Fassbinder's works, I really liked the eerie atmosphere and the hilarious 70's design.

Rating 9/10!

This quite unknown movie impresses the viewer the longer one watches! Even more than 40 years after the release the idea of powerful computers being able to influence our lives has not yet reached the reality in a way as Fassbinder shows us. The camera settings are fascinating, regarding the actors especially Klaus Löwitsch representing Fred Stiller impresses in his actions. His ability to make the viewer believe the character he represents gives his role as a quite simple looking technical director (though he calls himself scientist) a certain kind of deepness. The female actors represent very much the type of woman of the 1070s as of course the total outfit of the furniture. I was amused that the same curtain with particular circular pattern shown in the movie can be found in our old weekend house. Mascha Rabben as Eva is convincing but not comparable to the acting of Klaus Löwitsch (Stiller). At first I thought a movie of 3 1/2 hours of that kind must be too long, but I would't like to miss one minute of it. The reason for only 8 points is the virtual reality movies are not my favorites.

You've created a new simulated world, inside computer chips reality unfolds, or at least to those downloaded, executed, machine coded, but you can navigate within binary folds. A sudden loss, leaves you in charge of the machine, things start to happen that could never have been seen, people come and people go, upload, download, no one knows, it's all gone crazy as you byte into what's been.

Poor Fred Stiller starts to lose his marbles as reality confuses and he starts to question who or what he is. Fantastic performances, great story, only let down by the fact that over fifty years later simulation still has some thousands of years to go before it could be achievable - but it will be and Nick Bostrom's Simulation Hypotheses may well explain why.

I saw Welt am Draht in German TV when it was broadcast first, sometime 1973 or 74 i guess. I was nine or ten years old then, and it left a tremendous impression on me -- World On Wires is definitely one of my Myths of Childhood.

The two or three parts were aired again two or three times, the last time i watched it must have been in the eighties. I recorded them, but, very unfortunately, somehow these tapes got lost in the eddies of reality. It is hard to impossible to find Welt am Draht anywhere these days, which is really sad.

Welt am Draht changed the way i perceive the world. It is its credibility, the haunting story, the atmosphere of Germany in the early seventies, the actors, everything. It was very up to date then, and i think it is very much so now. We used to watch a lot of SF on TV, and I remember several serials that were in atmosphere and outlook so close to RWF's Welt, it has almost all melted into a kind of emotion, some sort of dim remembrance of future.