Wings of Desire

Over a divided Berlin, immortal angels move unseen among the living, listening to the private thoughts of ordinary people and quietly attending to their sorrows. One angel, Damiel, grows weary of pure observation and comes to long for a bodily, mortal life after falling for a lonely trapeze artist.

The film is an anatomy of longing and of the wish to be embodied, to feel warmth, weight, and time rather than only to witness. Its stream of overheard interior monologues makes vivid how much unspoken life each person carries. It won the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987.