X
- 1973
- Not Rated
- New Yorker Films
- 2 h 4 m
- 1973
- Not Rated
- New Yorker Films
- 2 h 4 m
Summary A successful fashion designer abandons a sado-masochistic relationship with her female assistant in favor of a love affair with a beautiful young woman.
Directed By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- 1973
- Not Rated
- New Yorker Films
- 2 h 4 m
- 1973
- Not Rated
- New Yorker Films
- 2 h 4 m
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
73
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch
Summary A successful fashion designer abandons a sado-masochistic relationship with her female assistant in favor of a love affair with a beautiful young woman.
Directed By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Bitter Tears offers a sensory feast that’s expanded on by the elaborate dialogue, which is poetic even as translated into English, and by the astonishingly sensual and fluid movements of the actors and the camera.
It functions reasonably well as a straightforward, agonized melodrama, but it’s first and foremost a master class—co-taught by famed cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (Goodfellas, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Quiz Show), who got his start with Fassbinder—in the dynamic visual use of a constricted space, and proof that a tiny budget is no excuse.
The intentionally artificial campiness of the story eventually becomes touching, as it's played out against the sound of The Platters singing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and The Great Pretender.
A lesbian love triangle becomes a schema of sexual power plays in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s most harshly stylized and perhaps most significant film.
A demanding, harrowing drama of agonized love laced with sardonic humor. [19 Apr 1992, p.9]
Every detail of staging, movement, and utterance is studied, affected to the highest degree, while the lust, anger, malice, and grief are wildly, shockingly real.
Clearly, the director was awash in his fantasies about lesbianism.
User Reviews
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Production Company
Filmverlag der Autoren,
Tango Film
Release Date Oct 12, 1973
Duration 2 h 4 m
Rating Not Rated
Tagline Sex is the ultimate weapon.
Awards
German Film Awards
• 3 Wins & 5 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
