| Director | Wim Wenders |
|---|---|
| Genre | dance film, documentary film, musical film |
| Runtime | 106 min |
| Country | France, Germany |
| Budget | $4.3 million |
| Box office | $14.6 million |
The film is structured around groups of excerpts from four of the most-noted dance pieces choreographed by Pina Bausch in the Tanztheater ("dance theater") style, of which she was a leading exponent. Bausch and Wenders had agreed upon which works to highlight, and the excerpts were filmed during stage performances of the full pieces by the dancers of Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal shortly after her death, Bausch having rehearsed the works with the company in preparation for the filming. Interspersed with the excerpts are solo and duet dances from many of Bausch's other works that are performed by members of Tanztheater Wuppertal in various outdoor locations around the city of Wuppertal, including in and around the iconic Wuppertal Schwebebahn suspension railway. Many of the dancers also tell a brief story about Bausch via voice-over, and there is some archive footage of Bausch talking and dancing.
The first of the four main pieces that is presented in the film is Le sacre du printemps (Frühlingsopfer, or, The Rite of Spring), which was first performed with Bausch's choreography in 1975. In it, the dancers, separated into male and female groups, move about a stage covered by a thick layer of peat as one of the women is chosen to be sacrificed.
The second main piece is Café Müller, which Bausch choreographed in 1978, inspired by a café she often visited as a child. In a simple setting consisting of some tables and chairs and doors, three sleepwalkers, two women in white nightgowns and a man, stumble around, while one man in a suit frantically moves chairs out of their way and another manipulates the actions of the sleepwalking man and one of the women. A third woman rushes back and forth, unsure what to make of the scene.
The third main piece is Kontakthof ("contact court", or, "courtyard of contact"), which was originally staged by Bausch in 1978 with the members of her dance company, in 2000 with senior citizens (as Kontakthof – Mit Damen und Herren ab 65), and in 2008 with teenagers (as Kontakthof – Mit Teenagern ab 14). Wenders filmed Kontakthof with each of the three generations of the cast, and the film cuts between the performers of different ages as they, using the same choreography, preen and interact at a dance in an auditorium.
The last of the main pieces is Vollmond ("full moon"), which premiered in 2006. In it, the dancers move about on a stage that is partially flooded and features a large rock.
The film is bookended by all of the dancers walking single-file while performing a simple bit of choreography related to the passing seasons with their hands. They are in a theater at the beginning of the film, and on top of the otherworldly Haniel slag heap at the end.