The Voyager
Encyclopedia
Voyager 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.
) is on a flight from New York City
to Venezuela
. 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.".
Hannah, Elizabeth mother's, also seems to refer to Hannah Arendt
, the political theorist who first wrote about the Homo Faber
concept.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
, and starring Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
, and Barbara Sukowa
Barbara Sukowa
Barbara Sukowa is a German theatre and film actress.- Work :Sukowa's stage debut was in Berlin in 1971, in a production of Peter Handke's Der Ritt über den Bodensee. Günter Beelitz invited her to join the ensemble of the Darmstädter National Theatre in the same year...
. Adapted from the 1957 novel Homo Faber
Homo Faber (novel)
Homo Faber is a novel by Max Frisch, first published in Germany in 1957. The first English edition was published in England in 1959. The novel is written as a first-person narrative. The protagonist, Walter Faber, is a successful engineer traveling throughout Europe and the Americas on behalf of...
by Max Frisch
Max Frisch
Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
, 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.
Plot
In June 1957, engineer Walter Faber (Sam ShepardSam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
) is on a flight from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. 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
Ellinikon International Airport
Ellinikon International Airport , sometimes spelled Hellinikon was the international airport of Athens, Greece for sixty years up until 2001 when it was replaced by the new Athens International Airport. It is located south of Athens, and just west of Glyfada...
, 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
Sierra Madre
Sierra Madre may refer to one of several mountain ranges:*In Mexico:**Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain range in northwestern Mexico and southern Arizona...
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
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
), 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
Oedipus
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
, and "the gods intervene to punish Walter for his earlier transgression.".
Hannah, Elizabeth mother's, also seems to refer to Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
, the political theorist who first wrote about the Homo Faber
Homo faber
Homo faber is a philosophical concept articulated by Hannah Arendt and Max Scheler that refers to humans as controlling the environment through tools...
concept.
Cast
- Sam ShepardSam ShepardSam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
as Walter Faber - Julie DelpyJulie DelpyJulie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
as Sabeth - Barbara SukowaBarbara SukowaBarbara Sukowa is a German theatre and film actress.- Work :Sukowa's stage debut was in Berlin in 1971, in a production of Peter Handke's Der Ritt über den Bodensee. Günter Beelitz invited her to join the ensemble of the Darmstädter National Theatre in the same year...
as Hannah - Dieter Kirchlechner as Herbert Hencke
- Traci LindTraci LindTraci Lind is an American film actress who is known for playing Alex Young in Fright Night II and Missy McCloud in My Boyfriend's Back. She also starred in The Road to Wellville and The End of Violence. She was billed in Fright Night II as Traci Lin...
as Charlene - Deborra-Lee FurnessDeborra-Lee Furness-Biography:Furness attended Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne where she graduated in 1973. She subsequently graduated at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1981....
as Ivy - August ZirnerAugust ZirnerAugust Zirner is an American-Austrian actor, who starred in over 60 film productions. He is one of the most popular actors in Germany.-Biography:...
as Joachim Hencke - Thomas Heinze as Kurt
- Bill DunnBill DunnBill Dunn is an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. He has served as a state representative since being elected to the 99th Tennessee General Assembly...
as Lewin - Peter BerlingPeter BerlingPeter Berling is a German actor and writer. He has worked on several occasions with director Werner Herzog, in his collaborations with actor Klaus Kinski....
as Baptist - Lorna Farrar as Arlette
- Kathleen Matiezen as Lady Stenographer
- Lou CutellLou CutellLou Cutell is a movie and television actor. He portrayed the proctologist, Dr. Cooperman, in "The Fusilli Jerry" episode of the television series Seinfeld and Leo Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Among cult movie fans, he is best known for his portrayal of Dr...
as New York Doorman - Charley Hayward as Joe
- Irwin Wynn as Dick
- Warwick Shaw as 2nd officer