Favorite Film That Was Set in Berlin
The Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago (as of November 9th, 2014). To honor the anniversary of this auspicious event for both the city and the larger world, let's revisit some films set in the city (be they from before, during, or after the wall's existence), and vote for a favorite.
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- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsUlrich MüheMartina GedeckSebastian KochIn 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsGeorge ClooneyCate BlanchettTobey MaguireWhile in post-war Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist is drawn into a murder investigation that involves his former mistress and his driver.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsBruno GanzAlexandra Maria LaraUlrich MatthesTraudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsBruno GanzSolveig DommartinOtto SanderAn angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsCorinna HarfouchMeret BeckerAugust ZirnerEast-Berlin, 1961, shortly after the erection of the Wall. Konrad, Sophie and three of their friends plan a daring escape to Western Germany. The attempt is successful, except for Konrad, who remains behind. From then on, and for the next 28 years, Konrad and Sophie will attempt to meet again, in spite of the Iron Curtain. Konrad, who has become a reputed Astrophysicist, tries to take advantage of scientific congresses outside Eastern Germany to arrange encounters with Sophie. But in a country where the political police, the Stasi, monitors the moves of all suspicious people (such as Konrad's sister Barbara and her husband Harald), preserving one's privacy, ideals and self-respect becomes an exhausting fight, even as the Eastern block begins its long process of disintegration.
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsFranka PotenteMoritz BleibtreuHerbert KnaupAfter a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.
- DirectorRoland Suso RichterStarsHeino FerchNicolette KrebitzSebastian KochDuring the Cold War, Germany was divided into two states - East and West. This epic story tells about their dramatic connections.
- DirectorMaria von HelandStarsAnna Maria MüheKaroline HerfurthJosefine DomesKati and Steffi have been best friends forever. Their love lives are heating up, so they're hitting the books less and going out to nightclubs more. When Steffi sees her father with another woman, her life begins to spiral out of control.
- DirectorWolfgang BeckerStarsDaniel BrühlKatrin SassChulpan KhamatovaIn 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
- DirectorKaryn KusamaStarsCharlize TheronFrances McDormandSophie OkonedoÆon Flux is a mysterious assassin working for the Monicans, a group of rebels trying to overthrow the government. When she is sent on a mission to kill the Chairman, a whole new mystery is found.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsHelen MirrenSam WorthingtonTom WilkinsonIn 1965, three Mossad Agents cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Thirty years later, the secrets the Agents share come back to haunt them.
- DirectorJan-Ole GersterStarsTom SchillingKatharina SchüttlerJustus von DohnányiAn aimless university dropout attempts to make sense of life as he spends one fateful day wandering the streets of Berlin.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJean ArthurMarlene DietrichJohn LundIn occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi café singer and the U.S. congresswoman investigating her.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsMerle OberonRobert RyanCharles KorvinA multinational group of train passengers become involved in a post-World War II Nazi assassination plot.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsEdmund MoeschkeErnst PittschauIngetraud HinzeA young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsMontgomery CliftPaul DouglasCornell BorchersExperiences of two Air Force sergeants during the 1948 Berlin Airlift.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsJames MasonClaire BloomHildegard KnefIn post-WW2 Berlin, when travel to the East was still possible, the sister of a British officer from West Berlin is abducted by Communist agents and taken into the Soviet sector where her eventual rescue is arranged by a German smuggler.
- DirectorNunnally JohnsonStarsGregory PeckBroderick CrawfordAnita BjörkDuring the Cold War, an American soldier is abducted in West Berlin, sparking a recovery effort led by Colonel Steve Van Dyke.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsRichard BurtonOskar WernerClaire BloomInstead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsGeorge SegalAlec GuinnessMax von SydowIn the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsPaul NewmanJulie AndrewsLila KedrovaAn American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin before planning an escape back to the West.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsLiv UllmannDavid CarradineGert FröbeBerlin, 1923. Following the suicide of his brother, American circus acrobat Abel Rosenberg attempts to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsEddie ConstantineHanna SchygullaVolker SpenglerA wildly anarchic satire of urban guerrilla warfare in which a band of leftist radicals inadvertently become puppets of the West German government, which uses them to justify its authoritarian policies.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsNatja BrunckhorstEberhard AurigaPeggy BussieckA teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
- DirectorPhil JutziStarsHeinrich GeorgeMaria BardMargarete SchlegelFranz Biberkopf has served four years in prison. His return to normal life is not successful.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsLiza MinnelliMichael YorkHelmut GriemA female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJames CagneyHorst BuchholzPamela TiffinIn West Berlin during the Cold War, a Coca-Cola executive is given the task of taking care of his boss' socialite daughter.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.
- DirectorPeter TewksburyStarsWalter SlezakBryan RussellRoger MobleyEmil goes to Berlin to see his grandmother with a large amount of money and is offered sweets by a strange man that make him sleep. He wakes up at his stop with no money. It is up to him and a group of children to save the day.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHanna SchygullaKlaus LöwitschIvan DesnyMaria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
- DirectorHannes StöhrStarsPaul KalkbrennerRita LengyelCorinna HarfouchA man tours clubs around the globe with his manager and girlfriend. On the eve of their largest album release he is admitted to a psychiatric clinic after overdosing at a gig.