The
Bitter Tears of Petra von
Kant is the perfect example of a film that has no business working,
but
that somehow finds a way to be a beautiful and affecting piece of
cinema.
Set in the home of the film's title character, Petra von Kant, the
camera never
leaves her bedroom for the entire 124-minute running time. The
cast consists
of only six people; all of them women, one of whom does not speak and a
couple
others whose onscreen time is no more than 20 or 30 minutes. So
how could
a film like this possibly work you might ask? Well, in
the hands
of most directors it surely would have failed miserably but Rainer
Werner
Fassbinder (who with this film, the third I've seen from him, showed me
why
he's included in the pantheon of the great directors) turned Petra's
room into
an alternate universe with bizarre set pieces, brilliant mise en scene,
and a
sharp script that deals with emotional problems and the nature of
relationships
as frankly as any film I've ever seen.
Petra von
Kant is a successful
fashion designer in the latter stages of mourning over the failure of
her
marriage. She spends most of her time bossing around her live-in
assistant and possibly former lover Marlene whose ghostly appearance
and
expressionless face mirrors that of the various mannequins scattered
throughout
the bedroom. Their relationship is based on domination and each
of them is
dependent on the other to perform their role in order to survive in
their
little corner of the world. Petra
takes out her aggression in fits of hypocritical rants about her
ex-husband
while Marlene, whose emotional damage is far past the point of
recovery, needs
only to be subjugated and humiliated. Their disturbing utopia
remains
untouched until Karin, a young admirer of Petra,
moves in with them.
After
taking a few minutes to
introduce Karin, there is a dramatic shift in time and we come to find
that
Karin and
Petra have
become lovers but in
this relationship Petra is
not the
dominant one. Fassbinder shows that the care-giver and the one
who loves
more in a relationship will ultimately be the one forced to
suffer.
Taking advantage of Petra's
love
and professional success, Karin has lovers on the side and refuses to
give Petra
any signs of affection especially when she needs it the most. She
uses
her youthful beauty to manipulate Petra,
forcing her to live on her terms. Each character in the film has
a
desperate desire to have relationships on their own terms and
Fassbinder
captures the destruction and unhappiness that such an attitude causes.
This brings
us to the set pieces
which are bizarre yet so effective that I was not bothered that we
never left
the suffocating confines of Petra's
bedroom. The entire back wall is taken up by a gigantic, larger
than life
colorful painting depicting an abandoned wife and child and nude,
upright
man. Along with the strategic placement of the mannequin's, the
painting
is used as a backdrop that mirrors, mocks, and satirizes each and every
one of
the characters. In the final act, the bed is moved to the corner
revealing a white shag carpet that makes the room appear like a small
piece of
heaven. With his precise and intricate camera movements,
Fassbinder uses
these set pieces to drive the narrative and give insight into the
characters
with out saying a word.
The
Bitter Tears of Petra von
Kant is a brilliant depiction of the manipulation inherent in every
relationship (even between friends and family) and the lengths to which
people
will go to stay with the ones they love. At its core is a women's
picture
in the spirit of Douglas Sirk and the lesbian relationships and absence
of
males occurs not to be racey but rather to explore the emotions of its
characters free from the constraints of the male-female
relationship. The
performances are truly inspired, especially Margit Carstensen's
tour-de-force
turn as Petra, and along
with
Fassbinder's set pieces, framing, and composition help us look into the
souls
of the characters and see that their pain is our pain, their defeat is
our
defeat, and that their relationships are not as far-fetched as they
first might
seem. In a way we can all identify with Petra's
need for love and control, and in her character we find the very
essence of
human suffering.
Cinematic
Reflections
