Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

A fashion designer (Margit Carstensen) mistreats her mute secretary (Irm Hermann) and becomes jealousy obsessive over one of her models (Hanna Schygulla), whom she left her husband for. Reworked from his autobiographical all male chamber drama to an all female casted film, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is methodically paced, and hard to get into at first but completely after a certain point. The set decor and photography are top of the line and Carstensen's peformance is tragic and memorable.
*** 1/2 out of ****