Writing

Peter Handke

Born December 6, 1942 · Griffen, Austria (age 83)

Peter Handke (born 6 December 1942, in Griffen, Austria) is an avant-garde Austrian novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 2019, Handke was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience."

Known For

City of AngelsCity of Angels · 1998
City of Angels
6.81998
MovieDramaFantasy
When a guardian angel – who invisibly watches over the citizens of Los Angeles – becomes captivated by a strong-willed heart surgeon, he ponders trading in his pure, otherworldly existence for a mortal life with his beloved. The couple embarks on a tender but forbidden romance spanning heaven and Earth.
Wings of DesireWings of Desire · 1987
Wings of Desire
7.81987
MovieDramaFantasy
Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.
Alice in the CitiesAlice in the Cities · 1974
Alice in the Cities
7.71974
MovieDrama
German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.
Wrong MoveWrong Move · 1975
Wrong Move
6.71975
MovieDrama
Six days in the life of Wilhelm: a detached man without qualities. He wants to write, so his mother gives him a ticket to Bonn, telling him to live. On the train he meets an older man, an athlete in the 1936 Olympics, and his mute teen companion, Mignon. She's an acrobat in market squares for spare change.
The AbsenceThe Absence · 1993
The Absence
6.51993
MovieDrama
Four nameless people -- the old man, the woman, the soldier, and the gambler -- journey to a desolate wasteland beyond the limits of an unnamed city.
The Left-Handed WomanThe Left-Handed Woman · 1978
The Left-Handed Woman
6.91978
MovieDrama
Mourning for a lost relationship can be every bit as devastating as mourning for someone who has died. In this drama based on the director's own novel, a couple with an unhappy marriage agree to a trial separation. They try to patch things up, and at the same time other relationships begin to develop for them.
The Beautiful Days of AranjuezThe Beautiful Days of Aranjuez · 2016
The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez
4.42016
MovieDrama
A man and a woman share their musings on love and freedom one summer night. The couple’s conversation meanders through memories, unspoken desires and passion through poetic dialogue.
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty KickThe Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick · 1975
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
5.91975
MovieDrama
Goalkeeper Josef Bloch is sent off after committing a foul during an away game. This causes him to lose his bearings, and he wanders aimlessly through the city streets and spends the night with the box-office attendant of a movie theatre.

Filmography

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The Malady of DeathThe Malady of Death · 1985
The Malady of Death
1985
MovieDrama
In the space of a short 65 minutes, a woman enters the luxury apartment of a wealthy man with an eccentric fascination for the female form and is paid both for her sexual favors and for lying there naked and letting him examine the aesthetics of her body. For most of the hour, as the concise narration of Marguerite Duras' novel on eroticism and aesthetics fills the aural gaps, actress Marie Colbin's form fills the visual gaps. But unless viewers consider the feminine eyeball or microscopic views of skin exotic and worth lingering over, the eroticism lies more in the imagination than on the screen. In fact, the female body lying on the bed, taken away from the spirit that animates it, is really just a corpse -- raising the question, exactly what is the "malady of death?"

Director