Powerful

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.Criterion has released the film and calls to our attention the "claustrophobic cinematography". Indeed, how can it be anything other than claustrophobic when we never leave the room? Much of the two hours takes place in a bed, with little beyond. This is quite a minimalism, and suggests the film is based on a stage play.Fassbinder is known for his modern German interpretations of Douglas Sirk. This is one of his Sirk-inspired works. Maybe not his best, though that is all in the eye of the beholder. A second viewing may change my opinion on the matter.

When I went to see this film I had no idea what to expect (probably the best way to see any film.) I was WOWed! The acting was tremendous. Margit Carstensen was amazing! The whole idea worked extremely well. Seduction by power and personality followed by a power shift then leading to a total breakdown. Basically the story of any torrid romance reduced to its essence. Margit Carstensen plays Petra as both masculine seducer and rejected femme in a seamless and believable fashion. And the set design projects a mood that is both foreboding and carnal.Be sure to bring your brain to this one.

"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.