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Sci-Fi

Metropolis

Durata
150 minMurnau Foundation 2010 restoration Fonti delle versioni ↓

A vast silent city of the future, still staggering.

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Paese di produzione
Germany (Si apre in inglese)
StrangeBeautifulBleak Accessibile · Mediamente impegnativo Sci-Fi

A cura di Monocurator

Metropolis — Monumental ivory lettering rises over a mechanical city and a small copper heart.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

Metropolis: Maria, the robot and the two plans

Joh Fredersen rules the city; Freder is his son. Maria brings the workers’ world into Freder’s sheltered life. Rotwang is the inventor whose machine will make it possible to turn a familiar face against the people who trust it. Keeping father and son separate is the first useful step through the story. The Murnau Foundation’s film record identifies these relationships.

Is Maria the robot? Story spoilers

There are two figures with Maria’s face. The human Maria remains a separate person: Rotwang abducts her and copies her appearance onto his already-existing machine. Brigitte Helm plays both roles.

One face, two very different actions
FigureWhat to follow
Human MariaCalls for a mediator; later helps Freder rescue the children.
The machine in Maria’s likenessIncites destruction; its human appearance conceals the metal body.

Why do Fredersen and Rotwang use her?

Fredersen wants to manipulate the workers through Maria’s double. Rotwang secretly wants revenge: he intends the machine to destroy Fredersen’s city and son. Their apparent cooperation hides opposing purposes. Hel, Freder’s mother, is the woman Rotwang lost to Fredersen; that rivalry gives his scheme its personal force. The restoration programme, pages 8–9 and 24, sets out the two plans and credits Helm’s double role.

Watch what each Maria asks a crowd to do. A familiar face can carry authority before anyone stops to question the command. The confusion belongs to the characters; keeping the two figures distinct lets us see how that trust is being used.

What does the ending’s handshake mean? Ending spoilers

After the flood and rescue, Freder brings his father and the workers’ foreman together. The handshake gives the film’s head, heart and hands metaphor three visible roles:

  1. HeadJoh Fredersen
    Authority
  2. HeartFreder
    The mediator
  3. HandsThe workers’ foreman
    Labour

The Murnau programme’s synopsis describes the reconciliation. Read the gesture alongside the enormous buildings and machines we have seen: the ending offers a human connection across that division. Whether a handshake can answer everything those spaces have shown is a question the final image leaves us to carry away.

Choosing a copy? The Metropolis restoration guide explains the recovered footage and how to identify the 2010 reconstruction.

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Cosa aspettarsi

Metropolis imagines the modern city as both miracle and machine. Monumental buildings, choreographed crowds, and expressive sets turn a class conflict into a visual fable that can be understood before any intertitle appears. Its ideas are broad, but its images remain vivid: technology promises abundance, bodies pay the cost, and the future looks magnificent enough to make its dangers tempting.

Come avvicinarsi al film

Choose a restored edition and check the runtime, since shorter versions can make an already broad story feel abrupt. The class allegory is intentionally simple: the city above, the workers below, and a privileged young man who begins to see the connection. Follow the architecture and crowd movement when the plot grows busy; the film explains power most clearly through space.

Da sapere

Una breve nota non esaustiva Includes industrial disaster, mass panic, threats to children, violence, and dehumanizing images of labor.
Momo's Note Può contenere spoiler Chi è Momo? → (Si apre in inglese)
Apri la nota ↓ Chiudi la nota ↑

The machines are enormous, but the detail I remember is the rhythm of bodies entering and leaving them. Metropolis is most persuasive when design becomes an argument: elevators, clocks, stairways, and crowds all tell us who controls time. Its politics can be blunt, yet its city still feels like a future dreaming about us.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Crediti e versioni

Mappa delle versioni

Confronta le edizioni: Metropolis: Which Restoration Should You Watch?

Murnau Foundation 2010 restoration 150 min · restoration · DE · 2010-02-12 The Murnau Foundation DCP catalogue gives the exact duration as 149:36. Kino Lorber lists 148 minutes and Eureka 150 minutes for releases of this same reconstruction; those rounded listings are not evidence of different cuts. Fonte: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung — Silent-film DCP catalogueFonte: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung — 2010 restoration premiere programmeFonte: Kino Lorber — The Complete MetropolisFonte: Eureka Entertainment — Metropolis Riferimento per la durata · Verificato il 2026-07-29

Fonti dei dati

Opzioni per guardare e leggere

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U.S. search destinations · Links checked 2026-07-27 · Stock, editions, prices, and availability can change · Disclosure

Come proseguire

Per il prossimo film, vuoi qualcosa di più delicato, più breve o più insolito? Chiedi a Momo qualcosa di simile → (Si apre in inglese)
Momo è di turno. Visita Momo Cinema → (Si apre in inglese)

Altri film del 1927 → (Si apre in inglese) Altri film di Fritz Lang → (Si apre in inglese)
Questo film è la tappa 06 di Silent Films for Beginners: First Picks & Family Viewing → (Si apre in inglese) Percorso n. 01
Altre lettureMetropolis: Which Restoration Should You Watch? → (Si apre in inglese) Journal Altre lettureWhat Is German Expressionism? When the Set Joins the Cast → (Si apre in inglese) Journal Altre letture10 Classic Sci-Fi Movies: Choose Your Next World → (Si apre in inglese) Journal
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