Rent Until the End of the World (1991)

Long, Very Long Fantasy Road Movie - Until the End of the World review by GI

This rather self indulgent dystopian/sci-fi/fantasy film from Wim Wenders is a very mixed bag that is surely far too long (in the 287 min Criterion Collection 4K restored Director's Cut) and narratively drifts along in a story that's hard to pin down. Cinematically there's a lot to admire here especially visually but it's a strange film in the sense that it's often incomprehensible even though the plot is there to see but to where is it going and why? To be honest by the end I was exhausted and struggling to find the film at all interesting. Set in an alternative 1999 the world is on the brink after a nuclear satellite has gone out of control and the future of civilisation is in doubt. With that introduction the narrative focuses on Claire (Solveig Dommartin), whose story the film follows. In a Eurotrash style she is travelling through Europe and has a car crash that involves two bank robbers. They convince her to take their loot to Paris for them where she decides to keep it but then discovers a handsome yet enigmatic hitchhiker, Sam alias Trevor (William Hurt) has stolen some of the cash from her. So she sets out to track him down and he in turn is on the run from the US government because he stole a gizmo from them that his father invented. Anyway after what is effectively a very long road movie that globetrots all over the world the pair of them, now lovers, and her ex (Sam Neill), the bak robbers and others end up in Australia where Sam's father (Max Von Sydow) is experimenting with a dream machine. And if none of that seems to make sense you'd be right because the film seems senseless for most of the time. You watch in the hope some dramatic swing in the narrative will occur but it actually doesn't. It seems another of those films where an uncontrolled director has been allowed to run riot. Apparently the theatrical 3 hour version isn't any better although I've not seen it. This is not a film that you'll want to watch twice and you need the patience to sit through it for the sheer length alone. But I'm positive it will have its admirers.

The Ultimate Road Movie - Until the End of the World review by Johannes

Wim Wenders’ interest in landscapes and their lone inhabitants achieved its greatest expression in the elegiac road-movie of Paris, Texas, namely the raggedy love story of Travis and Jane Henderson — two people beckoned by the possibilities of the road, by its reach and escape. Wenders’ films draw their oxygen from the road, and his previous trilogy of “road-movies” — Alice in the Cities (1974), Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976) — openly embrace the complexities of life whilst puttering along the backroads of West Germany and the US.

Until the End of the World is a continuation of these journeys, confidently migrating Wenders’ itinerants across the globe, with the iconography of almost every continent given to his European witness. Here, Wenders takes the road to its farthest limits — the ultimate example, and indulgence, of the "road movie" — carrying several misfits along the way. This is beautiful and completely maddening cinema.

A monster of a movie - Until the End of the World review by PM

A monster that is difficult to take your eyes off, and it's also quite a size in more ways than one. If you have enjoyed other Wim Wenders films you will very likely enjoy this one. It's not quite as avant garde as "Wings of Desire" but has a lot more going on than "Paris, Texas". Great acting, great storytelling and great cinema. There are however one or two what you might call "continuity" irritations, which dent the plausibility of the storyline, but if you accept this as being one of the consequences of having an unlimited budget, then it is an opportunity to discover something also about the dynamics of film making.