World on a Wire

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s exploration of a computer-generated world, an adaption of Daniel F. Galouye’s 1964 science fiction novel Simulacron-3. Originally premiering on German television as a mini-series.

The premise involves a corporation that develops a computer capable of simulating an alternate dimension and transferring human consciousness into this new virtual reality. A cybernetics engineer Fred Stiller (Klaus Löwitsch) unexpectedly inherits the job of Professor Wollmer (Adrian Hoven) following the man’s untimely death. When Stiller begins to uncover the truth about both Simulacron, IKZ (Institute for Cybernetics and Futurology) and the death of Wollmer, he is faced with the revelation of a widespread conspiracy. While World on a Wire is Fassbinder’s only work of science fiction, it brings back his recurring interest in 1970’s European opulence through its critique of excesses of power. Fassbinder creatively portrays a visionary, yet sinister future reality, reimagining modernism in the film’s innovative corporate and residential architecture.

Less