Thoughts on The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

    On Criterion, I watched The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, a 1972 West German New Wave psychological romantic film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, based on his play of the same name. The film centers on the title character Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen), a fashion designer who lives in a luxurious apartment in Bremen, and the whole film takes place in the apartment. She is rich, very thin, and lounges around in gowns and wigs, ordering around her silent personal assistant Marlene (Irm Hermann), who keeps a taciturn expression.

    Petra is twice-married, her first husband having died in a car accident when Petra was pregnant with their daughter, Gaby, and she recently divorced her second husband because of his controlling nature. Through her cousin Sidonie (Katrin Schaake), she meets Sidonie's friend Karin (Hanna Schygulla), a young 23-year old woman, who just returned to Germany after having lived in Sydney for five years with her husband. Petra is immediately attracted to Karin, telling her she should be a model, and the two develop a quick relationship, with Petra offering to financially support her while she trains to become a model. They talk about their lives, Petra having grown up happy and comfortable while Karin came from a traumatic background. Petra projects an obsession onto Karin, being enraptured by her, while Karin is flattered by the compliments but doesn't feel the same for Petra.

    The film is more of a melodrama, and Petra's obsession with Karin does feel over-the-top, especially when she's only known her for a short time, but codependency is a big part of the story, as Petra feels lonely, often at home with Marlene at her beck and call, and clings to Karin's youth and beauty, despite that Petra herself is only 35 and still very beautiful and young herself.

    The film is set in the then-present of the 1970s, but has a 1930s look, with the women having short, styled hair, wearing cloche hats and long gowns, projecting more of a 1920s-1930s glamour to them, it did confuse me at first to figure out the time period of the story.

    I found Marlene more fascinating in her silence, especially when observing this doomed sapphic affair from a distance but unable to comment on it to stay professional, but judging it all the same.

    I liked the film, but the melodrama was too much for me, and made me talk back at the screen like, "C'mon, Petra, get it together" when she's moaning over wanting Karin to love her back or wanting her to return. It was a nice film to watch, but not really for me.