Film review: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

24Apr09

Female fashion designer meets young female model. It sounds like cliché but this is 1972 long before lesbians became a common spice in the movies. Besides, this film is not very sexy.

The plot revolves around a love and power theme: how in a relationship one person gets the upper hand while the other gets needy and clingy. In this case the main character, Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen), is a fashion designer who’s success destroyed her marriage. Now she is alone and miserable until one day a friend introduces her to Karin Thimm (Hanna Schygulla), a beatiful young girl with dreams of making it as a model. And now Petra throws herself at Karin and finds herself in the inferior position. Hence the bitter tears.

The film is really low budget; it’s all shot in just one interior setting. But I soon forgot that since all the actors are so good. The director Rainer Werner Fassbinder is easily the best German director in film history and really brings out the best in the cast. It’s a heavy psychological drama with a lot of angst, so you need to be in the right mood for it. But don’t assume it’s pretentious crap on account of the genre – Fassbinder delivers the goods. The authenticity is what captures the viewer. And it’s not all darkness, there is a touch of comedy and a good and surprising ending too.