He “cannot blame” the man who was there 50 years ago, says Wim Wenders.Image: keystone
The actress Nastassja Kinski has been trying for years to have a scene deleted that shows her as a minor with her breasts bare. Now the director has spoken publicly.
June 1, 2026, 9:05 p.mJune 1, 2026, 9:05 p.m
Thomas Studer / ch media
The acceptance speech degenerated into defense. Last Friday, Wim Wenders received the German Film Prize’s honorary award for his life’s work. The jury had previously praised the 80-year-old director, known for “Paris, Texas” (1984) and “The Sky Over Berlin (1987) with Bruno Ganz, as an “icon of world cinema”. But when Wenders accepted the award, he couldn’t just speak warm words.
A week before that was in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) A text appeared in which the actress Nastassja Kinski commented in detail on Wenders’ film “Falsche Movement” (1975). Kinski played a mute girl named Mignon. One scene shows Mignon lying in bed, wearing only panties, while the main character Wilhelm, also only in underpants, lies on top of Mignon – believing she is another woman. When Wilhelm realizes the mistake, he slaps Mignon before stroking her cheek and mouth.
At the time of filming, Kinski was 13 years old. Her screen partner Wilhelm, in turn, was played by the then 30-year-old Rüdiger Vogler. Kinski said today in an interview with SZ about the filming: “Although I didn’t know that much at 13, I already noticed that it wasn’t okay.” For over ten years she has been trying to get Wenders to cut the scene from the film.
Asks for a cut: Nastassja Kinski.Image: EPA/EPA
Nude scene “artistically absolutely compelling”
The appearance in “False Movement” was Nastassja Kinski’s first film role – which was followed by a global career. She filmed with Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polański and twice more with Wenders. The half-naked scene in “False Movement” may also be the reason why director Wolfgang Petersen felt entitled to show Kinski bare-chested in the “Tatort” episode “Reifezeugnis” (1977), at the time as a 15-year-old.
Kinski later also defended himself against this scene, and has now successfully done so. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), which produced “Maturity Certificate,” decided not to broadcast the episode. Kinski’s lawyer is silent on further details of the agreement.
Wim Wenders, on the other hand, remained stubborn. 2024, as the SZ already reported on the casethe director was quoted as saying: The scene with the naked Nastassja Kinski seemed “artistically compelling at the time,” “as the young director that I was.” Wenders was 29 years old at the time of filming. Today he would “undoubtedly” shoot the scene differently because his “view of the world” has changed, “and we recognize different responsibilities.” He did not respond to the request for a cut. “Wrong Movement” is currently available on Amazon and Apple streaming services.
In “False Movement,” the girl Mignon (Nastassja Kinski) repeatedly seeks to be close to the writer Wilhelm (Rüdiger Vogler).Image: www.imago-images.de
The mother didn’t know
Now you can ask yourself how “artistically compelling” it was to show 13-year-old Nastassja Kinski wearing only panties. It’s not particularly difficult to imagine that the scene would have worked without any nudity. Something like the one in Peter Handke’s novel “False Movement,” which the film is based on, and which tells the scene in question without a bare breast.
One may also wonder whether Kinski and her mother should have been informed about the planned nude scene before filming. According to Nastassja Kinski, that didn’t happen. According to the actress, she had to interrupt filming several times – she went into the bathroom and cried.
Finally, since the film has long been shot, one can ask whether it would not be appropriate to cut the scene in question from the film, as Kinski wishes – especially since the plot would still work without it. Wenders has now asked this question publicly in his acceptance speech last Friday.
Nastassja Kinski in “Paris, Texas”.Image: via imdb
Is it a precedent?
He “cannot blame” the “young man” he was 50 years ago, said Wenders. After all, the young man, i.e. himself, “made a film in his time”.
The question that now arises is this: “Can you, can you, maybe should you cut a scene if, in this case, it hurts one of my actresses, whom I admire and admire very much? Are you allowed to do that?” And, more fundamentally: “Can you shorten a film afterwards?” The question is crucial, because if he shortens “Wrong Movement,” he would be creating a “precedent” that would affect the entire industry, Wenders continued.
Whether that is true, however, is questionable. There are not a ton of films received today that show minors naked, even though they have asked for the relevant scenes to be removed. Wenders’ statements are probably less an expression of a fear of censorship than an expression of an artist’s character who values the integrity of his own work of art more highly than the psychological harm that this work inflicts on a child. Wenders has not yet formulated an apology to Nastassja Kinski. (aargauerzeitung.ch)