The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Original title: Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
A troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.A troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.A troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 3 nominations
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRainer Werner Fassbinder wrote the entire screenplay for the film by hand during a single 12-hour flight from Berlin to Los Angeles.
- Quotes
Petra von Kant: I think people need each other, they're made that way. But they haven't learnt how to live together.
- Crazy creditsFollows Opening Film Title: "Gewidmet dem, der hier Marlene wurde (Dedicated to the one who became Marlene here)."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Fassbinder in Hollywood (2002)
Featured review
The one-apartment setting for this film creates a very appropriate sense of claustrophobia and confinement. Fassbinder and actress Margin Carstensen masterfully detail the progression of Petra's deterioration. The schematic framework of this film is not apparent at first; nothing initially indicates Petra's vulnerability and neuroses which makes her ultimate psychic annihilation more poignant. Fassbinder's view of human relationships was egocentric and borders on the cynical---however his work resonates because the approach is so unsentimental and Carstensen is unafraid to make the character unsympathetic, even pathetic as she pines for the return of an absent lover (Schygulla) in the devastating latter half of the film.
The production design and cinematography (by the great Michael Ballhaus-"Bram Stoker's Dracula") are magnificent in that instead of creating great vistas or otherworldly visions, they remain firmly entrenched in a context of confinement and claustrophobia. The artifice (note the outlandish outfits!!!) and overhyped hothouse atmosphere of the film contribute to a feeling of imprisonment; Petra is trapped by her loneliness and neuroses. There's no freedom, no exits, no light, no room to breathe.
The final shot, overlaid with the rock song "The Great Pretender" on the soundtrack, haunts.
A difficult, challenging, at times tedious work, with characters who are human in some very unpleasant ways. Not for an action-movie crowd or people who dig Spielbergian easy answers. "Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant" deserves applause for walking so unflinchingly on the dark and lonely side of the street.
The production design and cinematography (by the great Michael Ballhaus-"Bram Stoker's Dracula") are magnificent in that instead of creating great vistas or otherworldly visions, they remain firmly entrenched in a context of confinement and claustrophobia. The artifice (note the outlandish outfits!!!) and overhyped hothouse atmosphere of the film contribute to a feeling of imprisonment; Petra is trapped by her loneliness and neuroses. There's no freedom, no exits, no light, no room to breathe.
The final shot, overlaid with the rock song "The Great Pretender" on the soundtrack, haunts.
A difficult, challenging, at times tedious work, with characters who are human in some very unpleasant ways. Not for an action-movie crowd or people who dig Spielbergian easy answers. "Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant" deserves applause for walking so unflinchingly on the dark and lonely side of the street.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- DEM 325,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,144
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,623
- Feb 16, 2003
- Gross worldwide
- $9,982
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Top Gap
By what name was The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) officially released in Canada in French?
Answer