Wim Wenders Withdraws 1975 Film Over Scene Showing Child Nudity

Wim Wenders, the celebrated German filmmaker, says he is pulling his 1975 film Wrong Move from circulation after actress Nastassja Kinski renewed criticism of a scene in which she appeared topless at age 13.

In a statement posted on his foundation’s website, Wenders apologised to Kinski and said the Wim Wenders Foundation, which owns the film, is removing it from all current distribution channels.

“As the only person responsible at the time for Wrong Move who is still here, I recognise that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then,” Wenders, 80, said in the statement.

“For that, I apologise to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs and buts,” said Wenders, one of Germany’s most influential directors in recent decades, whose honours include a BAFTA award and a Palme d’Or at Cannes.

“That was my first film, he was my first director, and he didn’t protect me,” Berlin-born Kinski told the newspaper.

“Even though I didn’t know all that much at 13, I picked up on the fact that something wasn’t right,” she said.

Last month, Nastassja Kinski spoke to Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung daily, saying she had spent years trying unsuccessfully to persuade Wim Wenders to alter the film

The Wim Wenders Foundation said it would open a “broad dialogue” with German film institutions over the movie’s future.

“Only after that process has taken place – even if it takes considerable time – and once we have been able to present a mutually agreed solution, which will include Nastassja Kinski, will we make the film available again,” it said.

Wenders also said in the statement: “The many reactions, comments and conversations of recent days have played a significant role in further sharpening my understanding of the events of that time. For that, I am grateful.

“Only an open and respectful exchange can lead us to reconsider positions and reassess responsibilities.”

‘Long overdue’ decision

In a statement to AFP, Kinski’s lawyer Christian Schertz said he “welcomed” the move, while adding that it had been “long overdue”.

“I also regret that it has only happened as [a] result of public pressure,” he said.

“We have to wait to see what [Wenders’s] offer of dialogue actually consists of,” Schertz said.

Nastassja Kinski is the daughter of the late German film star Klaus Kinski and his second wife, Brigitte.

Wim Wenders and Nastassja Kinski at the 30th European Film Awards in Berlin, on 9 December, 2017

She later found Hollywood fame in films including Cat People and Tess.

In 2013, she told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper that her late father had been a “tyrant” and accused him of attempting to abuse her.

Wrong Move is one of several films that have drawn renewed scrutiny after complaints from the actors who appeared in them.

In 2023, actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a lawsuit over Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet, in which they had starred at ages 15 and 16, respectively.

The film included a brief bedroom scene showing Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts, but a California judge rejected their claim that the movie amounted to sexual exploitation and “child pornography”.

Last Tango in Paris, directed by Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci in 1972, includes a rape scene shot without the consent of actress Maria Schneider, who was 19 at the time.

She later said she was crying real tears during filming and that her co-star, Marlon Brando, did not comfort her afterwards.

Source: AFP