Voyager (film)

Voyager

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Produced by Eberhard Junkersdorf
Written by Rudy Wurlitzer
Max Frisch
Starring Sam Shepard
Julie Delpy
Barbara Sukowa
Music by Stanley Myers
Cinematography Giorgos Arvanitis
Pierre Lhomme
Editing by Dagmar Hirtz
Release date(s) January 31, 1992 (USA)
Running time 117 minutes
Country Germany
Language English
Box office $516,517 (USA)

Voyager (German: Homo Faber) is a 1991 English language drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff, and starring Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, and Barbara Sukowa. Adapted from the 1957 novel Homo Faber by Max Frisch, the film is about an engineer who survives a plane crash, meets an enchanting young woman with whom he has a passionate love affair, and then makes a remarkable discovery about her.[1]

Contents

Plot

In June 1957, engineer Walter Faber (Sam Shepard) is on a flight from Venezuela to New York City. He has just ended his relationship with his married mistress, Ivy. On the plane he meets a German man named Herbert Hencke (Dieter Kirchlechner). At the plane's layover at the Athens airport, Walter almost decides not to get back on the plane. But when the flight attendant discovers him still in the airport, he continues on the flight. Walter first mentions his recurring stomach pains.

The plane crashes in the Sierra Madre desert, and Walter survives. He discovers that Herbert is the brother of an old friend, Joachim, whom Walter has not seen since he left Zurich, Switzerland, several decades ago. He also learns that Joachim married Walter's old girlfriend, Hanna, and they had one child together. Hanna and Joachim are divorced now, and Herbert does not know anything about her present life. During this section it becomes clear that Walter is retelling this story from the future, and he frequently interjects comments about past events. He reveals that when he left Zurich, Hanna was pregnant with his child. It seems clear that the child Herbert thinks was Joachim's may actually be Walter's.

Back in Mexico in 1957, Herbert is on his way to see Joachim. Walter joins him, and the two discover Joachim hanging, apparently a suicide. Still in 1957, Walter meets Sabeth (Julie Delpy), a woman in her early twenties, on a boat bound for France. Sabeth strongly reminds Walter of Hannah. The two fall in love and embark on a European motoring tour through Italy and Greece. While traveling, their romance is sexually consummated. Later during their voyage, Walter learns that Sabeth is Hannah's daughter, and probably his daughter. He becomes distant and refuses to tell Sabeth. She, in turn, becomes upset at Walter's unexplained behavior. One morning, on a beach in Greece, she is bitten by a viper, and falls hitting her head on a rock. Walter rescues her and, eventually, she is treated at a hospital in Athens.

Hannah and Walter reunite at the hospital, and Hannah learns what happened between Sabeth and him, although Walter doesn't tell Hannah that he had sexual relations with Sabeth before learning she was his daughter. Sabeth recovers from the snake bite and appears to be gaining strength. However, she suddenly dies from the skull fracture caused by her earlier fall. The film then returns to the present at the Athens airport with Walter and Hannah embracing and saying goodbye. Walter goes into the airport terminal, but when his flight is called, he remains seated at the gate pondering his existence.

According to the New York Times, the movie is a Greek tragedy, a variation on the story of Oedipus, and "the gods intervene to punish Walter for his earlier transgression."[2].

Hannah, Elizabeth mother's, also seems to refer to Hannah Arendt, the political theorist who first wrote about the Homo Faber concept.

Cast

Reception

Voyager won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Production (Eberhard Junkersdorf), the German Film Award for Shaping of a Feature Film, and the Guild of German Art House Cinemas award for Best German Film. It was also nominated for three European Film Awards for Best Actress (Julie Delpy), Best Film (Eberhard Junkersdorf), and Best Supporting Actress (Barbara Sukowa), as well as a German Film Award for Outstanding Feature Film.[3] In Germany, 1,314,000 admission tickets were sold.[1]

References

External links