Synopsis
Cybernetics engineer Fred Stiller uncovers a massive corporate conspiracy involving a virtual reality computer project.
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Cast
- Klaus LöwitschFred Stiller
- Mascha RabbenEva Vollmer
- Karl-Heinz VosgerauHerbert Siskins
- Adrian HovenProfessor Henry Vollmer
- Ivan DesnyGünther Lause
- Ingrid CavenSecretary Uschi
- Barbara ValentinGloria Fromm
- Günter LamprechtFritz Walfang
- Margit CarstensenMaya Schmidt-Genter
- Wolfgang SchenckFranz Hahn
Recommendations
- 100
Time Out
World on a Wire is the discovery of the season, rarely screened in America but very much a key chapter in Fassbinder's story--a step toward bigger budgets and slicker production values, yet clarifying of his core artistic legacy. - 91
Portland Oregonian
Genuinely breathtaking. - 75
Washington Post
Seen now, the movie seems as timely as it is outdated, its themes contemporary even if its clothing and hairdos are anything but. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
World on a Wire is slowed down compared to most Fassbinder. He usually evokes overwrought passions, sudden angers and jealousies, emotional explosions, people hiding turmoil beneath a surface of pose. Here there's less of that emotional energy. But if you know Fassbinder, you might want to see this as an exercise of his mind, a demonstration of how one of his stories might be transformed by the detachment of science fiction. - 70
Village Voice
A bit of a slog at 205 minutes, World on a Wire builds up to a satisfyingly nutty finale. - 70
The New York Times
World on a Wire, while too slow and diffuse to count as a lost masterpiece, is valuable in expanding our sense of what Fassbinder could do and is also a source of much visual and intellectual pleasure in its own right. - 63
Slant Magazine
Fassbinder's sumptuous 205-minute epic is intriguing as a prototype for later and more palatably cynical sci-fi standards like "Blade Runner" or even "Total Recall."
