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Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (The)

Country: Germany, Language: German, 124 mins

Original Title

Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant
  • Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Writer: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Producer: Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Michael Fengler

CGiii Comment

Petra and her many crappy wigs...
 
Filmed in one room...the passing of time is dealt with by a change of wig...now, isn't that clever?!? No.
 
It's long, tedious and wordy - the acting is unashamedly ham...some may call it stylised...okay, so it's stylised ham. Ham is ham.
 
There are those that call this a masterpiece - banal tasting ham fans.

Fassbinder...a director of quantity at the expense of quality...

Seemingly, he wrote this on an 11 hour flight...it may have improved if he had rewritten it on the return journey.


Trailer...

 

The(ir) Blurb...

Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in. The rest of the film deals with the emotions of this affair and its aftermath. Fassbinder tells his story in a series of 5 or 6 long scenes with extended uses of a single camera shot and deep focus.

Cast & Characters

Margit Carstensen as Petra von Kant;
Hanna Schygulla as Karin Thimm;
Katrin Schaake as Sidonie von Grasenabb;
Eva Mattes as Gabriele von Kant;
Gisela Fackeldey as Valerie von Kant;
Irm Hermann as Marlene