The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

Now Playing

2h 4m

Drama

List

84%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Two women (Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann) form a sexual triangle with a fashion designer (Margit Carstensen) in her arty apartment.

Read More

Read Less

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

In Theaters

Prime Video

Max

Watch The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant with a subscription on Max, rent on Prime Video, or buy on Prime Video.

Critics Consensus

A thoughtful drama that grows even more powerful in retrospect, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant sensitively depicts a woman's tortured search for connection.

Read Critics Reviews

peter w

The use of mannequins as props drives home the themes of roles and performances in this challenging Fassbinder film. The blank surfaces of the mannequins contrast sharply with the Rubenesque mural that exudes life and vitality. Interacting within these two modes are the characters who are navigating the roles that they face in their lives with varying degrees of satisfaction. It is a fascinating exploration of power among the three generations of the van Kants, an assistant, a friend and an outsider who all find their roles challenged by Maria's apparent self-absorption.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

"I don't understand why everything must be so complicated when it can be simple." Sort of like Bergman, but with the melodrama dialed up and pain expressed through extravagant outfits rather than depression (though that may be a recent viewing of Cries and Whispers talking). Fassbinder's film feels like a relic from his vaunted career launchpad in theatre (because it is a direct adaptation of a stage play, and retains a confined atmosphere to match), with a minimal cast and a reliance on sincere interpersonal drama. Bitter Tears rides the waves of passion, diving headfirst into a beautifully self-absorbed and volatile fashion designer, Carstensen's titular Petra von Kant; the script draws you in with her enticingly chemical personality and penchant for melodrama, before gradually slipping into a sincere portrayal of obsession and desire. Contrasting Petra's increasingly authoritarian and sadistic treatment of her assistant Marlene (and her own daughter, and any visitor unfortunate enough to visit her home) with her increasingly submissive and degrading relationship with her lover-muse Karin delivers an interesting portrayal of desire, only wearing a thin veneer of garishness in a continuously rotating retinue of wigs. Where does the melodrama end and the sincere feeling begin? Is there a line between the two? Maybe there isn't after all. Emotion is emotion. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/27/21

Full Review

s r

1001 movies to see before you die. An odd film showing women's struggle for meaningful relationships. Saw on HBO

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Perhaps no one other than Faye Dunaway has portrayed grandiose suffering so eloquently as Margit Carstensen in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Fabulous costumes, claustrophobic cinematography, and flawless direction all certainly contribute to the film's greatness, but it's Rainer Werner Fassbinder's withering dissection of human power dynamics that truly sets Bitter Tears apart. The prolific dynamo auteur challenges his audience to both endure Petra's theatric wallowing and senseless cruelty, but also sympathize with her almost pitiful vulnerability. Gleefully stifling and endlessly indulgent, Fassbinder's multi-layered masterwork only becomes better with age.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Terrible. Waste of time watching. They should have found a more attractive actress for the part of Petra.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The acting gives the feeling of a theatrical style and there is so much beauty in every frame.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Director

Margit Carstensen

Petra von Kant

Hanna Schygulla

Karin Thimm

Irm Hermann

Marlene

Eva Mattes

Gabriele von Kant

Gisela Fackeldey

Valerie von Kant

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

73%

80%

In a Year of 13 Moons

86%

87%

Fox and His Friends

76%

85%

Veronika Voss

67%

68%

The Night Porter

92%

90%

The Marriage of Maria Braun

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Penelope Gilliatt

New Yorker

It is a lucid, beautiful work of innovation which hides its fondness for its characters under a cloak of august formalism.

Mar 4, 2024

Full Review

David Robinson

Times (UK)

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is dazzling in the brittle brilliance of its execution, the precision of its structure and movement, the total, hermetic self-containment of the tiny world it creates.

Jun 27, 2023

Full Review

Derek Malcolm

Guardian

Take it or leave it, it is a real contribution to technique to latter-day European cinema.

Jun 27, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Handsome with a touch of aloofness... it's a quintessentially Fassbinder portrait of doomed love, jealousy, and social taboos, bouncing between catty melodrama and naked emotional need.

Sep 8, 2023

Full Review

Jordan Brooks

Vague Visages

An emotionally existential journey through the cycle of love, Fassbinder’s film conveys an incredible power for empathy, and a profound understanding of deeply human characters.

Aug 3, 2023

Full Review

Russell Davies

Observer (UK)

I can see why Fassbinder's slow, formal expositions, tinged with his Pinter-like relish for the sinister side of lifemanship, should currently be seducing all comers. But here his deliberateness... looks very like a policy of smirking non-commitment.

Jun 27, 2023

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Two women (Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann) form a sexual triangle with a fashion designer (Margit Carstensen) in her arty apartment.

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Screenwriter: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Production Co: Filmverlag der Autoren, Tango Film
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 25, 1972, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 28, 2017
Runtime: 2h 4m
Sound Mix: Mono

Most Popular at Home Now