Wim Wenders pulls film over nude scene featuring Nastassja Kinski at 13

Wim Wenders has pulled his 1975 film The Wrong Move from distribution after renewed scrutiny over a nude scene featuring Nastassja Kinski when she was 13, a rare voluntary withdrawal by a major director from a canonical title. The Wim Wenders Foundation, which owns the film, said it would be removed from all current forms of distribution and exhibition, including streaming services and broadcast television, until a mutually agreed solution is found.

Wenders said Kinski should have been better protected and offered what he described as an unreserved apology. France 24 and AFP reported that he said he was the only person still responsible for the film, underscoring how ownership and control of legacy works can remain concentrated long after a movie leaves production. Kinski, now 65, had pressed him to reedit the film after speaking publicly about her experience and calling it her first film, with Wenders as her first director.

The film’s removal reaches beyond one title. Wenders said he wanted a broad dialogue that includes Kinski, the German Film Academy and other film groups, framing the dispute as part of a larger reckoning over how modern institutions should treat older works that include material involving minors. He also warned that retroactive editing could set a precedent for other films, even as he acknowledged that the industry must find better and more inclusive ways to handle such material.

The Wrong Move, originally titled Falsche Bewegung, was an adaptation of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, set in 1970s West Germany and running about 105 minutes. Criterion has described it as one of Wenders’ least-seen features and noted that it marked Nastassja Kinski’s first screen appearance; the release was also restored in 4K under Wenders’ supervision. That combination of restoration, prestige and new ethical scrutiny places the film at the center of a broader test for archives, distributors and festivals now weighing whether controversial legacy works should be withheld, contextualized or kept in restricted circulation.

Kinski’s lawyer, Christian Schertz, said the withdrawal was welcome but long overdue, and regretted that it came only after public pressure. For a director known internationally for Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire, the decision signals that the debate over old films is no longer limited to restoration quality or historical value. It now also turns on consent, protection and the standards institutions apply when a celebrated work collides with present-day expectations.