***User-reviewer Alice Liddel ("A searing reminder of what a galvanising experience cinema could be.", Alice Liddel from dublin, ireland 26 March 2001) has an excellent review. Also, Markboulos ("Fassbinder at his finest! Cinema at its finest!", markboulos from Brooklyn, NYC, 3 February 2000) captures the film's quality. Shane James Bordas ("Key Film From The German Master", Shane James Bordas from United Kingdom, 22 August 2006) describes the film's origins. Finally, Lexo-2 ("Great film, glad I don't live there", Lexo-2 from Dublin, Ireland, 1 May 1999) has a nice summary.***
"The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972, Rainer Werner Fassbinder ), a ladies-only slumber party, is a slow-paced masterpiece from the renowned German filmmaker. Adapted from Fassbinder's own play, it is set in a single apartment. It consists entirely of conversation that is spoken by world-weary characters. While it will likely bore many casual film-goers, it is a sublime achievement for those willing to stick it out. "Bitter Tears" is very profound and informs on the human condition in various ways.
The titular character, Petra (Margit Carstensen), is a celebrity fashion designer. Petra is used to emotionally dominating the people who surround her. Having been married twice before, Petra explains to her visiting cousin Sidonie (Kartin Schaake) that men now repulse her and women are currently her romantic gender of choice. ("Bitter Tears" shows us a lesbian triangle which seems unusually bold for 1974.) Petra employs a silent servant named Marlene (Irm Hermann) that she continually mistreats. Because Marlene is obviously in love with Petra, her quiet suffering is mesmerizing to observe. (BTW, Fassbinder leaves two essential questions about Marlene unresolved: 1) Is she a mute or just unable to speak in Petra's presence? 2) Is she entirely or partly responsible for Petra's professional success? Leaving Marlene's relationship with Petra ambiguous is an example of Fassbinder's elite skill at story-telling.)
Through Sidonie, Petra meets attractive Karin (Hanna Schygulla). Karin is separated from her husband. Petra immediately falls for her. She tells Karin she has a future as a fashion model. When Karin arrives for a second visit, Petra assumes her customary role as sexual predator. While treating Marlene miserably, Petra tries to seduce the seemingly confused Karin. Unexpectedly, Karin is the real shark. We learn she is taking advantage of Petra. Karin will ultimately stick an emotional dagger through Petra's soul, rejecting her and torturing her before revealing she is returning to her husband. Realizing the consequences of opening one's heart at the wrong place and time, Petra falls apart. On her birthday, Petra has a nervous breakdown which is witnessed by Sidonie, along with Petra's Mother and Daughter.
While interpretations of this film vary, Fassbinder is said to be showing how a group of people can all simultaneously reside in their own mental prisons. He's also employing substitution on many levels. The characters here are all drawn from Fassbinder's relationships with his recurring cast members as well as his conservative mother. As a celebrity designer, Petra is an obvious stand-in for Fassbinder himself. The silent Marlene is regarded as representing the audience early, and later, Karin. (Fassbinder reviewers have noted in other films he uses female characters as substitutes for real-life men he knows.)
Visually, Fassbinder is electric. He is always on point with his imagery; even though this is a low budget production. On the apartment wall there is "a large reproduction of Poussin's Midas and Bacchus (c.1630), which depicts naked and partially clothed men (Wikipedia)." As Petr describes her sexual preference for women to Sidonie, the audience will have little difficulty in discovering the (sleeping) endowment of Poussin's central nude male in the background. Petra's words and the Poussin figure's little man seems to be Fassbinder describing his own homosexuality.
Even though a homo-erotic painting is often present, and a lesbian triangle is in the story, "Bitter Tears" has enough mild eroticism for every individual audience member, regardless their preferred sleeping arrangement. ("Bitter Tears" arrives decades before the Internet confirms the interest hetero guys have in watching lesbians.)
Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla is adorable as the femme fatale. Meanwhile, Margit Carstensen (Petra), also attractive, turns in a superb performance as Petra. (She won awards in Germany, but inexplicably she was not internationally recognized.)
The origin of "Bitter Tears" is legendary. Fassbinder is said to have written the screenplay on an 11-hour plane trip from Germany to L.A. Upon landing, he immediately ordered his film crew (which traveled with him) to return to Germany where they made it in 10 days. This is all astonishing because many reviewers regard "Bitter Tears" as Fassbinder's crowning achievement.
Cinephiles with some patience should not miss this Fassbinder classic.
"The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972, Rainer Werner Fassbinder ), a ladies-only slumber party, is a slow-paced masterpiece from the renowned German filmmaker. Adapted from Fassbinder's own play, it is set in a single apartment. It consists entirely of conversation that is spoken by world-weary characters. While it will likely bore many casual film-goers, it is a sublime achievement for those willing to stick it out. "Bitter Tears" is very profound and informs on the human condition in various ways.
The titular character, Petra (Margit Carstensen), is a celebrity fashion designer. Petra is used to emotionally dominating the people who surround her. Having been married twice before, Petra explains to her visiting cousin Sidonie (Kartin Schaake) that men now repulse her and women are currently her romantic gender of choice. ("Bitter Tears" shows us a lesbian triangle which seems unusually bold for 1974.) Petra employs a silent servant named Marlene (Irm Hermann) that she continually mistreats. Because Marlene is obviously in love with Petra, her quiet suffering is mesmerizing to observe. (BTW, Fassbinder leaves two essential questions about Marlene unresolved: 1) Is she a mute or just unable to speak in Petra's presence? 2) Is she entirely or partly responsible for Petra's professional success? Leaving Marlene's relationship with Petra ambiguous is an example of Fassbinder's elite skill at story-telling.)
Through Sidonie, Petra meets attractive Karin (Hanna Schygulla). Karin is separated from her husband. Petra immediately falls for her. She tells Karin she has a future as a fashion model. When Karin arrives for a second visit, Petra assumes her customary role as sexual predator. While treating Marlene miserably, Petra tries to seduce the seemingly confused Karin. Unexpectedly, Karin is the real shark. We learn she is taking advantage of Petra. Karin will ultimately stick an emotional dagger through Petra's soul, rejecting her and torturing her before revealing she is returning to her husband. Realizing the consequences of opening one's heart at the wrong place and time, Petra falls apart. On her birthday, Petra has a nervous breakdown which is witnessed by Sidonie, along with Petra's Mother and Daughter.
While interpretations of this film vary, Fassbinder is said to be showing how a group of people can all simultaneously reside in their own mental prisons. He's also employing substitution on many levels. The characters here are all drawn from Fassbinder's relationships with his recurring cast members as well as his conservative mother. As a celebrity designer, Petra is an obvious stand-in for Fassbinder himself. The silent Marlene is regarded as representing the audience early, and later, Karin. (Fassbinder reviewers have noted in other films he uses female characters as substitutes for real-life men he knows.)
Visually, Fassbinder is electric. He is always on point with his imagery; even though this is a low budget production. On the apartment wall there is "a large reproduction of Poussin's Midas and Bacchus (c.1630), which depicts naked and partially clothed men (Wikipedia)." As Petr describes her sexual preference for women to Sidonie, the audience will have little difficulty in discovering the (sleeping) endowment of Poussin's central nude male in the background. Petra's words and the Poussin figure's little man seems to be Fassbinder describing his own homosexuality.
Even though a homo-erotic painting is often present, and a lesbian triangle is in the story, "Bitter Tears" has enough mild eroticism for every individual audience member, regardless their preferred sleeping arrangement. ("Bitter Tears" arrives decades before the Internet confirms the interest hetero guys have in watching lesbians.)
Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla is adorable as the femme fatale. Meanwhile, Margit Carstensen (Petra), also attractive, turns in a superb performance as Petra. (She won awards in Germany, but inexplicably she was not internationally recognized.)
The origin of "Bitter Tears" is legendary. Fassbinder is said to have written the screenplay on an 11-hour plane trip from Germany to L.A. Upon landing, he immediately ordered his film crew (which traveled with him) to return to Germany where they made it in 10 days. This is all astonishing because many reviewers regard "Bitter Tears" as Fassbinder's crowning achievement.
Cinephiles with some patience should not miss this Fassbinder classic.