This early 1970s film by German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder is loosely based on the Bette Davis classic, All About Eve. All of the action takes place in the apartment of successful fashion designer, Petra, which she shares with her long suffering assistant, Marlene. The film focuses on the relationship that develops between Petra and Hanna, a beautiful young woman who embarques on a modelling career with Petra's help.

Although viewing is sometimes uncomfortable one is drawn in by the film's unflinching analysis of the changing balance of power in this relationship. Margit Carstensen is wonderful as Petra, whose mood alters as frequently as the various flamboyant designs and wigs that she wears. However the presence of the silent and much abused Marlene (Irm Hermann) who "hears everything, sees everything and knows everything" is always apparent and this adds to the tension as the drama unfolds.

The cinematography is excellent - shots are skilfully framed to comment on the action, sometimes incorporating the huge Baroque mural in the bedroom or fixtures such as wooden beams. At other times the women are photographed as if in tribute to Ingmar Bergman's intimate chamber works such as Persona.

Although The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is perhaps not the best place to begin watching Fassbinder's films it is one of his most successful creations and repeated viewings can be rewarding. However, for an introduction to Fassbinder I would suggest watching The Marriage of Maria Braun.

Depressing but a reality

all good

Present

Fassbinder was one of those homosexual film-makers whose political allegiance lay with Vulgar-Marxism. This held that same-sex desire was a 'disease of the bourgeoisie'.
This particular film is especially crude. An aristocratic female, as the 'von' in her name indicates, is the rather cruel half of an onscreen couple, of whom the other half is a mute female, who does her bidding in everything. The implication is that the dominant half is some sort of lesbian and that her companion (servant?) represents the working class. The latter finally finds her voice and leaves for good. Petra von Kant finally cries, and we are put out of our misery and can finally leave the cinema. The End.

During his 37 years on Earth, the great German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder made a total of 41 films in his 13 year film career. Not counting the countless plays, TV series and acting gigs he did, his output was ferocious, much like his personal life. There have been many things written and spoken about Fassbinder - that he was anti-Semitic, tyrannical, misanthropic and homophobic (even though he was an open homosexual) - yet no-one will deny his raw genius and his place as a driving force in the New German Cinema movement. He made many fantastic films, and I don't think I would be alone is stating that he was at his best when dealing with melodrama, and more specifically, complex female characters.

Possibly his best known film, Fear Eats The Soul, is widely considered his best, but I feel that The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant shows Fassbinder at the top of his game. He usually worked with the same troupe of actors (Brigitte Mira, Kurt Raab, Karlheinz Bohm amongst others) and here he has two of his finest - Margit Carstensen as the powerful yet desperate fashion designer Petra Von Kant, and Hanna Schygulla (who played the title character in Fassbinder's other masterpiece The Marriage Of Maria Braun) as her newly appointed love interest, Karin. In my opinion, Carstensen is one of the finest actresses in cinema history, along with Bette Davis and Liv Ullmann, and is never better here. She is dominating and sadistic, yet when she opens up to her cousin Sidonie (Katrin Scaake) or her new lesbian lover Karin, she is tragic, broken and lonely. It is a tour-de-force on display, as her character changes as much as she changes her hairpieces.

Petra is residing in her apartment when we first meet her, awoken by fellow designer Marlene (Irm Hermann) who stays with her. We quickly learn that Petra sadistically treats Marlene like a slave, ordering her to bring her things and even orders her to slow-dance at one point. When she is joined by her cousin, Petra reveals how her past relationships with men have ended in disaster and resentment, and that men will ultimately leave her empty and disappointed. She is introduced to Karin, a timid model who Petra visibly becomes interested in, and eventually infatuated by. As Petra and Karin start a seemingly cold and difficult relationship, Petra's jealousy and fear of loneliness comes to the fore as she struggles to hold herself together. In one particularly powerful scene, Petra sits motionless on the edge of the bed after being told by Karin how none-existent her feelings really are, and a single tear rolls slowly down her face. Her face is as white as porcelain and as motionless as a doll, as the realisation hits her that her situation is as fake as the mannequins she decorates with her creations.

Adapted from his own play, Fassbinder never moves the action outside Petra's claustrophobic apartment, instead allowing the pent up feelings to explode within the confines of one room. The screenplay, acting, cinematography and music is absolute perfection, and in my opinion this is Fassbinder's crowning achievement. The final scene, which I won't reveal, is in turn hilarious and heartbreaking. If you are as spellbound as I am by the acting talents of Carstensen, then I would recommend both Fear Of Fear and Satan's Brew (both Fassbinder) to see the full range of her ability. Possibly the finest film of the New German Cinema movement.

[...]

I still can't get into Fassbinder's world, here. Saw it many years ago, possibly on Film 4 and now twice, recently where it's been on Sky Arts.

There's no doubt that it is an important film, both for Fassbinder himself and for European cinema. It's like a moving art gallery, so well and immaculately filmed, the angles, the depth of focus and the set design all rivet one's eyes to the screen. The elegant, flowing movements of Margit Carstensen and Hanna Schygulla (as von Kant and her object of desire, Karin) are measured, precise, not like real life at all. They sometimes do appear like made up shop-dummies, so static; Fassbinder even includes actual dummies scattered around, limbless, clotheless - obviously a strong metaphor. von Kant IS a supremely influential and successful fashion designer and so maybe these visual signals extend this.

However, this intense study of lesbian affairs - apparently an ode to the Bette Davis classic All About Eve; interestingly, Pedro Almodovir likewise made All About My Mother - which must have been quite a formidable movie to make exactly forty years ago - is basically, just talk. Of course, dialogue is important to all films but this is a world alien to me and something is locking me out. Maybe the visuals are too rich - the subtitles float above the perfect imagery. I can't help feeling that if one of my real favourite directors, Ingmar Bergman, was making this one, I'd be right in there.