History Film / WorldOnAWire

* PinocchioSyndrome: One of the primary concerns of IKZ is that the identity units will begin to develop this and want to leave Simulacron-1. [[spoiler: And with good reason, considering that Einstein eventually does so successfully, and begs "I want to be a human being" among other things when caught. This could also be considered a subversion, [[RecursiveReality since the film's overall message calls into question what "real" humanity even is.]]]]

''World on a Wire'' (German: ''Welt am Draht'') is a 1973 two-part made-for-television serial directed by Creator/RainerWernerFassbinder. While technically a miniseries, World on a Wire is also viewed by some as one long, 204-minute film, thanks in part to its 2012 two-disc release by Creator/TheCriterionCollection. The film stars several of Fassbinder’s usual collaborators, such as Klaus Löwitsch, Wolfgang Schenck, Kurt Raab, Ulli Lommel, Karl Scheydt, Ingrid Caven, and Margit Carstensen, while also featuring actors who had never previously worked with Fassbinder, such as Mascha Rabben, Karl-Heinz Vosgerau, Ivan Desny, Adrian Hoven, and Günter Lamprecht. The film is based on the 1964 novel ''Simulacron-3'' by Daniel F. Galouye, which was also adapted into the 1999 film ''Film/TheThirteenthFloor''.

Dr. Fred Stiller (Löwitsch) is an employee at IKZ (Institut für Kybernetik und Zukunftsforschung, or in English, Cybernetics and Future Science), a company known for creating, housing, and operating Simulacron-1, a cyberspace world housing about 10,000 “identity units” capable of thinking, feeling, and living normal everyday lives within IKZ’s computer network, totally oblivious to their existence as a collection of circuits. One day, Stiller is promoted to Technical Director at IKZ following the mysterious death of the previous Technical Director, Professor Vollmer (Hoven), who had recently uncovered a dark secret related to Simulacron-1. Mystery ensues as Stiller is forced to meet the demands of IKZ CEO Herbert Siskins (Vosgerau) while juggling his own romantic pursuits with the ever-deepening mystery surrounding IKZ’s intentions and the implications of successfully creating a simulation of reality.

''World on a Wire'' is frequently compared and contrasted with Creator/TheWachowskis’ 1999 hit film ''Film/TheMatrix'', which tackles many of the same themes, albeit in a much faster-paced, action-packed way. In typical Fassbinder fashion, ''World on a Wire'' is a very slowly-paced film that centers more on the philosophical questions that arise in a world where simulating reality is possible. Ironically though, it’s definitely among Fassbinder’s more action-filled films, not that that’s saying much.

* ArtificialHuman: The human constructs that populate Simulacron-1 are called “identity units”, but are essentially artificial people programmed by the staff at IKZ.
-->'''Gloria:''' 10,000 people. They’re people, aren’t they?
-->'''Stiller:''' As you like. To us, they’re mere circuits. But to them...They live just like we do...build roads, listen to music, eat...

* BigBad: [[spoiler:A Technical Director of a world Inside a Computer System named Fred Stiller is responsible for nearly every bad thing that happens. He’s just not the Fred Stiller who we spend most of the film with.]]
* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:After successfully evading IKZ, police, and catastrophic bad luck, Stiller is forced by his simulation’s Technical Director to waltz into a police ambush, resulting in him being shot to death atop a car in front of IKZ’s office building.]]

** IKZ employees are able to upload their minds into Simulacron-1, appearing as themselves within the simulated world, mainly for the purposes of interacting with the contact unit nicknamed “Einstein”.
** It’s also possible for IKZ employees to [[GrandTheftMe take over the mind and body of an identity unit]] through similar means, allowing them to control the identity unit in a manner similar to controlling a character in a first-person video game.
* TheCameo: Eddie Constantine makes a very brief appearance as a man who’s allergic to cigarettes, and is credited as “Man in Rolls Royce”. This is almost definitely a reference to his appearance in Creator/JeanLucGodard ’s film ''Film/{{Alphaville}}'', which deals with many of the same themes as this film.
* TheCharmer: Stiller gets the attention of three different women throughout the series. He originally shares a relationship with his first secretary, Maya. Once Eva Vollmer is introduced, Stiller quickly forms a relationship with her as well. Eventually, Maya is replaced by Gloria in her role as Stiller’s secretary thanks to Siskins’ machinations, and Stiller begins to take her out on dates too.
* CluelessBoss: While Siskins is an extremely smug and competent boss when it comes to matters of business, he doesn’t seem disturbed in the slightest when [[spoiler: Stiller creates a perfect copy of him in Simulacron-1.]] On the contrary, he’s actually pretty amused.
* ConstructedWorld: Simulacron-1, which is populated with just a small town’s worth of Artificial Humans. [[spoiler: Oh, and “real life”. [[RecursiveReality And potentially everything “higher” than that, as well.]]]]

* CorporateConspiracy: A major narrative thread involves IKZ’s relationship to United Steel, a wannabe MegaCorp that wants to use Simulacron-1 to model market demand for raw materials up to the year 2000.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: While Siskins is affable in his interactions with his employees and business partners, he’s also [[spoiler: responsible for the upkeep of thousands of digital human lives solely for the purpose of advancing the business interests of other companies and the government.]]

** The identity units of Simulacron-1 are unknowingly these, considering that their lives can be changed or totally erased in an instant by IKZ. [Not that anyone in “reality” is safe either, as evidenced early on by the unexplained disappearance of Günther Lause.
** [[spoiler: Stiller]] gets a pretty bad case of this as [[spoiler: he becomes increasingly aware of his status as an ArtificialPerson, as his luck gets worse and more unexplainable things begin to happen to him.]] In an odd twist on the trope, [[spoiler: the seemingly-cosmic force behind his misfortunes is none other than his “original” self, who is Technical Director of the simulation we’re initially lead to believe is reality.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Stiller dodges IKZ agents, an angry mob, the police, a conveniently-falling tree, the explosion of his country home, and an assassination attempt or two, all while coping with the loss of his job and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the mind-breaking revelation that nothing about his world or life is necessarily “real”]]. In the end, he [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascends to a higher plane of existence]] where he can be with Eva, thanks to her pulling a quick GrandTheftMe.]]
* FalseMemories: [[spoiler: Stiller is quick to recognize Eva as Professor Vollmer’s daughter when he finds her going through her father’s study, despite her never having previously existed in his world before that very moment.]]
* {{Fanservice}}: In typical Fassbinder fashion, nudity isn’t shied away from in this film for the male in female form. Especially obvious in Stiller’s [[WalkingShirtlessScene Walking Shirtless Scenes]], scantily-clothed scenes involving Eva and Gloria, and a scene with several attractive, mostly-naked dancers ([[FemaleGaze male]] and [[MaleGaze female]]) at the club.

** This is one of the ways that people in the real world can interact with Simulacron-1, via Brain Uploading their mind into one of the simulation’s identity units.
** [[spoiler: This is also revealed by Eva to be the cause of Stiller’s recurring headaches, occurring whenever her reality’s Stiller attempts to take over his mind. He’s successfully able to compel the simulated Stiller to [[BolivianArmyEnding walk straight into a firing squad in the end.]]]]

** When an unseen identity unit named “Christopher Nobody” attempts suicide within Simulacron-1 after [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the revelation]] of living in a simulated world, Stiller gives the green light to delete Nobody in order to keep the simulation intact.
** This is also the reason behind [[spoiler: Professor Vollmer’s mysterious death, [[RetGone Günther Lause’s sudden disappearance]], [[TrappedInASinkingCar Hahn’s car “accident”]], and Stiller’s worsening luck. [[TomatoInTheMirror All four become aware that they themselves are living in a simulation]], and are “removed” one by one as a result.]]
* HiredForTheirLooks: Strongly implied to be the reason Siskins replaces Maya with [[SexySecretary Gloria]] as Stiller’s secretary, in order to have an extra pair of eyes on his new Technical Director. [[spoiler: It makes even more sense when she admits that she’s SleepingWithTheBoss.]]

* InsistentTerminology: The Artificial Humans that populate Simulacron-1 are almost always referred to by IKZ staff as “identity units”.

* PinocchioSyndrome: One of the primary concerns of IKZ is that the identity units will begin to develop this and want to leave Simulacron-1. [[spoiler: And with good reason, considering that Einstein eventually does so successfully, and begs “I want to be a human being” among other things when caught. This could also be considered a subversion, [[RecursiveReality since the film’s overall message calls into question what “real” humanity even is.]]]]

* RecursiveReality: [[spoiler: The central thesis of the film. Simulacron-1 is a simulation within a simulation, and the “real world” that’s revealed to be [[AlwaysABiggerFish another, “higher” simulation]] at the end of the first half begs the question of where the layers of simulation stop, and whether not there is any such thing as an objective reality in a world where simulation is possible. It could be Fred Stillers all the way down.]]
* RetGone: At the beginning of the series, Stiller converses with his colleague Günther Lause regarding Professor Vollmer’s disturbing discovery immediately prior to the latter’s sudden, mysterious death. Stiller turns away from Lause for a brief moment, and when he looks back at the chair where Lause was sitting, it’s totally empty. Shortly thereafter, [[RippleEffectProofMemory nobody but Stiller has any recollection of there ever being a Günther Lause at IKZ]]. Most of the first half of the series concerns Stiller’s attempts to prove to anyone else that Lause ever existed.

** In the second half of the series, [[spoiler: a newspaper bearing a pre-ripple headline about Lause’s disappearance is found by the article’s author, proving Stiller right about the nature of “reality”.]]
* SexySecretary: Maya, Stiller’s first secretary, is played by the very attractive Margit Carstensen. Then she’s replaced by Gloria (Barbara Valentin).
* SleepingWithTheBoss: Stiller takes Gloria out on several dates, and eventually the two sleep together. [[spoiler: This occurs immediately after Gloria admits to being in a relationship with Siskins, so she’s also sleeping with Stiller’s boss.]]
* StandardOfficeSetting: Most of the film takes place within IKZ’s office building, albeit the offices we see are large, often sterile, and extremely well-furnished.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler: Stiller’s simulated body is [[BolivianArmyEnding filled with lead at the film’s end]]. Fortunately for Stiller, Eva [[GrandTheftMe swapped his consciousness with the “original” Stiller]] right before this occurred.]]

** [[spoiler: Not only is Fred Stiller made aware of his own existence as an identity unit halfway through the series, but it turns out that he was specifically designed to look exactly like the creator of his simulated world. That creator’s name? Fred Stiller.]]
* TrappedInASinkingCar: [[spoiler: This is how Hahn dies after [[HeKnowsTooMuch he learns too much]] about [[TomatoInTheMirror the existence of the “real world” as yet another layer of simulation.]]]]

* WalkingShirtlessScene: We’re treated to several scenes of Stiller in various states of undress throughout the series. A particularly lengthy scene involves a shirtless Fred conversing with an IKZ bodyguard (played by El Hedi ben Salem) about [[spoiler: the nature of their reality as a simulation while seated at Fred’s apartment balcony while he’s on company-mandated house arrest.]]

-->'''Einstein:''' [[spoiler: ''[While [[GrandTheftMe in Fritz Walfang's body]]]'' That’s what you think. But the truth is this world, which you take for reality, is only a simulation model of the real world. Fred Stiller, the big computer boss. You’re nothing but a mass of electrical circuits.]]

* BrainUploading: IKZ employees are able to upload their minds into Simulacron-1, appearing as themselves within the simulated world, mainly for the purposes of interacting with the contact unit nicknamed “Einstein”.

* CosmicPlaything: The identity units of Simulacron-1 are unknowingly these, considering that their lives can be changed or totally erased in an instant by IKZ. [Not that anyone in “reality” is safe either, as evidenced early on by the unexplained disappearance of Günther Lause.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first half of the series ends with one of Stiller's colleagues, Fritz Walfang, [[spoiler: being tricked off-screen into [[GrandTheftMe switching minds with the identity unit Einstein]] upon [[BrainUploading visiting the simulation]]]]. This ends up being the same way that [[spoiler: Eva saves Stiller by quickly swapping his mind with the mind of her reality's Stiller. This results in [[BolivianArmyEnding the "original" Stiller being killed by the cops in front of the IKZ building]] while the Stiller that serves as our protagonist is able to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence join the "real" Eva in the "real" world.]]]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Franz Hahn, IKZ's resident psychologist, is employed by the company to help monitor the sanity of Simulacron-1's staff and the simulation's residents. Several characters express their concern that Einstein may suffer from one of these, [[TheMole thanks to his intended role within Simulacron-1]].

* GrandTheftMe: This is one of the ways that people in the real world can interact with Simulacron-1, via Brain Uploading their mind into one of the simulation’s identity units.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: When an unseen identity unit named “Christopher Nobody” attempts suicide within Simulacron-1 after [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the revelation]] of living in a simulated world, Stiller gives the green light to delete Nobody in order to keep the simulation intact.

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Shortly after Günther Lause suddenly disappears mid-conversation, Stiller becomes the only person who remembers that Lause ever existed, much to his own confusion and frustration.

* TomatoInTheMirror: One of the identity units, Christopher Nobody, realizes that he's [[InsideAComputerSystem trapped in a simulation]] and is DrivenToSuicide shortly thereafter.

* SexySecretary: Maya, Stiller’s first secretary, is played by the very attractive Margit Carstensen. Taken UpToEleven once she’s replaced by Gloria (Barbara Valentin).

** [[spoiler: This ends up happening to Stiller as well in the secong part of the series, [[WhamLine once Einstein reveals that]] [[InsideAComputerSystem the "real world" is just another simulation.]]

* CorporateConspiracy: A major narrative thread involves IKZ’s relationship to United Steel, a wannabe Mega-Corp that wants to use Simulacron-1 to model market demand for raw materials up to the year 2000.

* TheCameo: Eddie Constantine makes a very brief appearance as a man who’s allergic to cigarettes, and is credited as “Man in Rolls Royce”. This is almost definitely a reference to his appearance in Creator/JeanLucGodard ’s film Film/{{Alphaville}}, which deals with many of the same themes as this film.

* BolivianArmyEnding [[spoiler:After successfully evading IKZ, police, and catastrophic bad luck, Stiller is forced by his simulation’s Technical Director to waltz into a police ambush, resulting in him being shot to death atop a car in front of IKZ’s office building.]]

''World on a Wire'' (German: ''Welt am Draht'') is a 1973 two-part made-for-television serial directed by Creator/RainerWernerFassbinder. While technically a miniseries, World on a Wire is also viewed by some as one long, 204-minute film, thanks in part to its 2012 two-disc release by The Criterion Collection. The film stars several of Fassbinder’s usual collaborators, such as Klaus Löwitsch, Wolfgang Schenck, Kurt Raab, Ulli Lommel, Karl Scheydt, Ingrid Caven, and Margit Carstensen, while also featuring actors who had never previously worked with Fassbinder, such as Mascha Rabben, Karl-Heinz Vosgerau, Ivan Desny, Adrian Hoven, and Günter Lamprecht. The film is based on the 1964 novel Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye, which was also adapted into the 1999 film Film/TheThirteenthFloor.

World on a Wire is frequently compared and contrasted with the Wachowskis’ 1999 hit film The Matrix, which tackles many of the same themes, albeit in a much faster-paced, action-packed way. In typical Fassbinder fashion, World on a Wire is a very slowly-paced film that centers more on the philosophical questions that arise in a world where simulating reality is possible. Ironically though, it’s definitely among Fassbinder’s more action-filled films, not that that’s saying much.

!! Tropes:

* {{Workaholic}}: Maya suffers an absence from work at IKZ after working herself to exhaustion, conveniently allowing Siskins to replace her with Gloria. Stiller is also a good example of this.

* TheCameo: Eddie Constantine makes a very brief appearance as a man who’s allergic to cigarettes, and is credited as “Man in Rolls Royce”. This is almost definitely a reference to his appearance in Creator/JeanLucGodard ’s film Film/Alphaville, which deals with many of the same themes as this film.

* TheMole: Einstein

* PredatoryBusiness

-->'''Gloria:''' And make love?

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
* FreakyElectronicMusic
* GoMadFromTheRevelation

* InsideAComputerSystem

* TheMole

* SexySecretary
* SleepingWithTheBoss
* StandardOfficeSetting
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill
* TomatoInTheMirror
* TrappedInASinkingCar
* VideoPhone
* WalkingShirtlessScene
* WhamLine
* WorkHardPlayHard
* {{Workaholic}}

* ArtificialHuman

** [[spoiler: Stiller]] gets a pretty bad case of this as [[spoiler: he becomes increasingly aware of his status as an Artificial Person, as his luck gets worse and more unexplainable things begin to happen to him.]] In an odd twist on the trope, [[spoiler: the seemingly-cosmic force behind his misfortunes is none other than his “original” self, who is Technical Director of the simulation we’re initially lead to believe is reality.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* FalseMemories
* Fanservice
* Foreshadowing

* GrandTheftMe
* HeKnowsTooMuch
* HiredForTheirLooks

* InsistentTerminology

* PinocchioSyndrome

* RecursiveReality
* RetGone
* RippleEffectProofMemory

* Workaholic

* BigBad
* BolivianArmyEnding
* BornAsAnAdult
* BrainUploading
* TheCameo
* TheCharmer
* CluelessBoss
* ConstructedWorld
* CoolestClubEver
* CorporateConspiracy
* CorruptCorporateExecutive
* CosmicPlaything