| The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant | |
| Director: | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Screenplay: | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Based On: | Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant by Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Producer: | Michael Fengler |
| Cinematography: | Michael Ballhaus |
| Editing: | Thea Eymèsz |
| Distributor: | Filmverlag der Autoren |
| Runtime: | 124 minutes |
| Country: | West Germany |
| Language: | German |
| Budget: | DEM 325,000 |
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (German: '''Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant''') is a 1972 West German psychological romantic drama film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, based on his play of the same name. Featuring an all-female cast, the film takes place entirely in the home of narcissistic fashion designer Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen),[1] following the changing dynamics in her relationships with other women. The film was entered into the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival. The movie is regarded by many as Fassbinder's magnum opus and a classic of New German Cinema.
Petra von Kant is a prominent fashion designer based in Bremen. The film is almost totally restricted to her apartment's bedroom, decorated by a huge reproduction of Nicolas Poussin's Midas and Bacchus.
Petra's marriages have ended in death or divorce. Her first husband Pierre was her great love, who died in a car accident while she was pregnant; the second began the same way, but ended in disgust. Petra lives with Marlene, another designer, whom she treats as a slave.
Petra is awoken by Marlene. She begins her day and gets dressed while Marlene attends to her. Petra makes a phone call to her mother, makes demands of Marlene (including slow-dancing), and dons a brown wig just before she receives her cousin Sidonie as a visitor.
Petra talks to Sidonie about their male relationships while Marlen works and acts as their hostess. Sidonie's friend Karin Thim joins them. Karin, newly returned to Germany after residing in Sydney for five years, is a desirable but shallow 23-year-old woman. Immediately attracted to Karin, Petra suggests she become a model. Karin agrees to return the following day.
Petra quickly falls in love with Karin. The next day, with Marlene showing clearer signs of frustration, Petra, now wearing a larger and dark wig, offers to support Karin while she trains to be a model. Karin's husband has remained in Sydney, though Petra is only momentarily put off by this revelation. The women soon show their incompatibility. Petra had a happy childhood and came from a home where the good things in life were always stressed, while Karin's father was a toolmaker and she always felt neglected by her parents. Petra loved mathematics at school, but Karin could never understand algebra. Petra has a daughter, whom she rarely sees, but she reassures herself that her daughter is at the best possible boarding school.
Karin's parents are now both dead. She says that people reject her when they find out about her history, but Petra says that her affection for Karin is even stronger after having learned about her past. Petra orders Marlene to get a bottle of Sekt. Karin goes into more detail about her parents' death: her father was laid off because of his age, and he killed his wife and then hanged himself in a drunken stupor. Karin feels she has drifted in her life; her husband in Sydney treated her as a slave and offered no reprieve from her past, but Petra insists this is about to change. Marlene returns with the bottle of Sekt and silently returns to her typing as Petra and Karin toast. Petra promises to make Karin a great model; Marlene stops typing and glares at Petra. Petra says that life is predestined, people are brutal and hard, and everyone is replaceable. Discovering the price of Karin's hotel, she suggests she move in with her. While Petra admits to being in love with Karin, Karin can only say she likes Petra.
About six months later, Petra, resplendent in a red wig, is getting dressed, while Karin is in bed reading a magazine. Petra cancels a flight to Madrid over the telephone, a habit which Karin thinks is pointless. Karin thinks Marlene is strange, but Petra reassures her that Marlene loves her. Karin admits that she had been out until 6 am the previous night and slept with an African-American soldier. Freddy, Karin's husband, telephones from Zurich; it emerges that they have been in contact by letter, and that Karin is rejoining him. Petra calls her a "rotten little whore", and Karin responds that being with her is less strenuous than working the streets. She asks Petra to book a flight to Frankfurt, where she is to meet her husband, and asks for 500DM from Petra; Petra freely gives her twice that. A drunken Petra has Marlene drive Karin to the airport.
On Petra's birthday, the bedroom is almost empty. Petra, lying on the floor and now wearing a blond wig, drinks heavily and waits for a phone call from Karin. Her daughter Gaby arrives. Petra tells her little; Gaby admits to being in love with a young man, but so far it is unrequited. Sidonie appears with a birthday present: a doll with blond hair like Karin's. She admits to knowing Karin is in Bremen that day. Petra's mother Valerie arrives and is subjected to abuse. Petra accuses her of being a whore who never worked and lived off her husband. Petra tramples on a china tea service and smashes glasses against the wall. Her mother, previously unaware of Karin, is shocked at the thought of her daughter being in love with another woman. Petra says that she hates Gaby and never wants to see Sidonie again, but Sidonie stays.
Later that same night, Petra lies in bed without a wig. Valerie tells her that Gaby cried herself to sleep. Petra is apologetic to her mother, and realizes she wanted to possess Karin rather than love her. Karin calls, and Petra amicably declines seeing her before she leaves for Paris, instead offering the chance that they will meet again in the future. Petra turns to Marlene after her mother has left and apologizes for treating her badly. She promises that all will be different between them and that she will share her life with her. Marlene, who has satisfied her masochistic desire in submitting to Petra, packs her belongings, including a pistol, in a small suitcase and leaves, taking the doll as she walks away.
Solitude, love, and codependency are key themes explored in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. The solitary setting of Petra's bedroom maximizes the dramatic tension while serving as a mirror for her own entrapment.[2] The items in Petra's room and the positioning of the camera relative to the reproduction of Midas and Bacchus are manipulated in order to reflect and comment on the action.[3]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 84% approval rating from 31 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "A thoughtful drama that grows even more powerful in retrospect, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant sensitively depicts a woman's tortured search for connection."[4]
See main article: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (opera). The text of the play, in its English translation by Denis Calandra, was employed by Gerald Barry as the libretto for his five-act opera, commissioned by RTÉ and English National Opera and premiered in Dublin and London in 2005. The opera is also available on CD featuring the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.[5]
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is considered a landmark of European cinema which secured Fassbinder an undisputed place as a respected auteur.[6]
The 2014 film Clouds of Sils Maria revolves around a remount of a play called Maloja Snake about an intergenerational lesbian relationship. Olivier Assayas (writer/director of Clouds of Sils Maria) acknowledged the link between The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and the fictional play Maloja Snake.[7]
Peter Strickland has cited The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant as a major influence on his 2015 film The Duke of Burgundy.[8]
In 2022, French director François Ozon released Peter von Kant, a reinterpretation of the film centred on a male director.[9]