Overview
A woman's desperate quest to save her lover leads her into a mystical confrontation with Death.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- eerie
- melancholic
- ornate
- classic cinema viewing
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praise the film’s art direction, photography, special effects, and enduring importance as a German silent fantasy despite early concerns about its national character.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Death appears as a central character who explains and enacts the lovers’ fatal predicament.
Death presents three separate tales in which women attempt to save doomed lovers and face related outcomes.
The young man is imprisoned behind a huge doorless, windowless wall, while Death’s spaces turn destiny into physical architecture.
The exotic settings, supernatural personifications, cemetery imagery, and elaborate art direction make love and death visually symbolic.
Films like Destiny, and why
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
German expressionist fantasy, allegorical encounters with death, and visually elaborate silent-era design
The Phantom Carriage
silent-era romantic fatalism, supernatural storytelling, and ornate stylized mise-en-scène
Intolerance
anthology structure, doomed lovers, and heightened silent-film melodrama
Metropolis
Fritz Lang’s monumental visual imagination, mythic fatalism, and expressionist atmosphere
Movie Details
- Director
- Fritz Lang
- Release Date
- 1921-10-06
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (180)
Cast
- Lil Dagover
- Walter Janssen
- Bernhard Goetzke
- Hans Sternberg
- Karl Rückert
- Max Adalbert
- Wilhelm Diegelmann
- Erich Pabst
- Karl Platen
- Hermann Picha
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- FlixFling, Kino Film Collection
- Rent
- FlixFling
- Buy
- FlixFling
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Destiny about?
- A determined young woman follows Death through three fatal romances to challenge the destiny separating her from her abducted lover.
- What is Destiny like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Destiny as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Destiny violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Destiny as mild.
- What did critics think of Destiny?
- Critics broadly praise the film’s art direction, photography, special effects, and enduring importance as a German silent fantasy despite early concerns about its national character.
- Which films are like Destiny?
- Films with a similar feel include The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Phantom Carriage, Intolerance, and Metropolis.
- How long is Destiny?
- Destiny runs 98 minutes.
- Where can I watch Destiny?
- In United States, Destiny streams on FlixFling, Kino Film Collection.
