Too much of everything

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A Golden Bear contender in 1972, this film precisely exemplifies the expedient filmmaking mode of the ever-so-prolific Fassbinder, allegedly its script was written during a trans-Atlantic 12-hour flight, and shot in ten days with an all-female cast from his troupe, six characters altogether, maximally exploits its single location, the bedroom of our protagonist, Petra von Kant (Carstensen), a successful fashion designer in Bremen, to concentrate extremely on a succession of episode mapping out her emotional slough.To visually offset the movie's inbred austerity, Fassbinder has reproduced the painting of MIDAS AND BACCUS from the leading classic French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin, to occupy entirely one side of the wall in Petra's bedroom, which also underlines our early pursuit of the destructive conjoined twins: money and pleasure.Other characters are Marlene (Hermann, performing with heightened and subservient silence), Petra's assistant, whom she treats in a sadistic fashion which will eventually apply itself as a pleasantly unconventional ending; Karin (Schygulla), a young model whom Petra nurtures her love with but eventually deserts her; then in lesser importance, there are her lady friend Sidonie (Schaake), her mother Gabriele (Mattes) and her teenage daughter Valerie (Fackeldey).Extensively utilising single camera shot and deep focus, constantly alters the compositions to strive for a feeling of fluidity, purposefully lavishing Petra and Karin with kitschy wardrobe and wig selections (Petra is firstly introduced in her makeup-free plainness, and it is the cosmetics- applying process brings about her allure), and timely playing oldies from The Platters and The Walker Brother, an ending piece of UN DÌ, FELICE, ETEREA from Verdi's LA TRAVIATA, Fassbinder is indeed well versed in lubricating the film's rigid structure of a theatrical nature, he wrote it as a play first, and let the vagaries of a woman's sentiments run the show.In the beginning, Petra has just recovered from a failed marriage, and is spurned by the cheap sympathy from Sidonie's condolence and rebuffs the latter's advice of a more pragmatical view on love and marriage, aka. humility, she touts her implacable resolution that "love must be beautiful", she simply cannot endure lies. But in her tentative move to woo Karin, she gracefully throws concept of humility to impress a lesser sophisticated mind, and when she is hurt by Karin's blunt frankness (a black man with a huge cock), she pleads her to lie to her, a sardonic betrayal of her pride and principles. The subsequent fits of fickleness and servitude barely can erase a feeling of fatigue born out of the treacly theatrics and broad-stroke tediousness, a straightforward nervous breakdown should have arrived sooner than later.Speaking of performances, Carstersen's soliloquy-prone grandstanding never totally transcend into something ravishing to behold, maybe because Petra is a far cry from a character we can easily project sympathy onto, a deeply-flawed diva's sado-masochistic narcissism is psychologically overbearing for schadenfreude. Schygulla, on the contrary, retains something brutally honest in Karin, cast a distinguished shadow of self-awareness against Petra's maudlin temperament; and Hermann conveys Marlene, a permanent on-looker in the maelstrom of melodrama, with expressionless glare and stare, she robotic-ally types, eavesdrops, serves until dissolves into a subconscious existence simmering with suppressed orgasm, only until Petra finishes with that, Fassbinder's intricately personal and uninhibitedly experimental psycho-drama dares to close its curtain.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder started to get some notoriety with this film and it's a film version of one of his own plays. This story strongly represents Fassbinder's own bitterness towards love and relationships. This film takes place in the apartment of Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen) who is a fashion designer and she spends her days verbally berating her mute secretary/slave Marlene (Irm Hermann). Petra is a lesbian and divorced with a daughter in boarding school and one day Petra's friend Sidonie (Katrin Schaake) mentions that an acquaintance is stopping over. Sidonie's friend turns out to be Karin (Hanna Schygulla) and she has just gotten back to Germany after spending some time out of the country. Petra offers her the opportunity to be a model and she agrees to be schooled by her. Soon Petra is deeply attracted to her and asks Karin to move in which she does. After time passes Petra finds out that Karin still sleeps with men from time to time and then Karin's husband calls and asks her to come stay with him. Karin says yes and asks for money for her trip. Petra gives it to her but is deeply hurt and starts drinking heavily and becomes very depressed. She lashes out at everyone around her and it takes some time for her to function again.*****SPOILER ALERT*****Some critics of this film say that its just too talky and that its just another bad filming of a stage play. But there are other things going on when you watch this film and the cinematography is exceptional. The cinematographer is the great Michael Ballhaus who worked on about 15 productions with Fassbinder. The use of color is very evident in this film even though it takes place in a rather modest apartment setting. The color of red is used effectively when the actors are wearing primarily white and the background usually has large pictures hanging on the walls to give it some interesting depth. Fassbinder has a solid background in theater and when he made films he could work as both director and set designer. It's a striking film to look at and Fassbinder always had a strong view of how his productions should look. The performances are all solid and Carstensen is very strong in the title role. One of the more interesting parts in this film is by Hermann as Marlene. She never speaks in the film and its not known for sure if she's a mute or not. She's basically Petra's slave and it's suggested that they're relationship is founded on Petra's domination of her. At the end of the film Petra tells Marlene that she is giving her freedom. Marlene responds by packing her bag and leaving Petra for what we think is for good. They're relationship was about possession and when that has ended then it's over for them. This basically was what Fassbinder wanted to show everyone and he has always been fascinated by human emotions in dire situations. Petra wanted to possess Karin but she fooled her from the start. She used her and left her without any remorse at all. This film also gives viewers a look at a very young Eva Mattes who plays Petra's daughter Gabriele. Mattes would become a very well known German actress and is probably best known for her work in a couple of Werner Herzog films. This is certainly not Fassbinder's best film but it is a fascinating character study with some very colorful visuals. Fassbinder was one of cinema's greatest directors and this early effort is interesting to watch from start to finish.

"The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" is a powerful, unflinching view of a love affair gone wrong. Though Petra is not the most sympathetic of characters (note the constant berating of her mute personal assistant throughout the film, which becomes even more intense when Hanna Schygulla's character leaves), one can't help but sympathize with her a little by the end. Not stagy at all, the actors all perform in a believable way, as though they were not actors at all but real people caught in these situations (note Mrs. von Kant's incredulousness when she discovers Petra's love affair with another woman). Excellent, but certainly not for all tastes. This is an extremely claustrophobic film; does Petra ever leave her apartment? Certainly, it's the best Fassbinder film I've seen so far, though. I'm glad I saw it, as I nearly gave up on him.

One reviewer described Bitter Tears as "a high camp lesbian slumber party", and that sort of sums it up, except that the blankets are like the dressing gown Medea made for Jason's wife - dipped in acid. Fassbinder adapted it from his own play and basically filmed a performance - there's only one set, Petra's apartment, and the characters come and go exactly as in the play, with one crucial difference in the last minute of the movie. All the usual suspects are here; Margit Carstensen has a ball as the Swansonesque Petra, Hanna Schygulla slinks and drawls as Petra's lover, Irm Hermann is at her beaky best as the watchful Marlene. It all culminates in the birthday party to end all birthday parties. A tough one to get into, but you'll never see anything like it anywhere else.