Die bitteren Tranen der Petra von Kant / The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) [Criterion Collection]

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writers: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake

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. The rest of the film deals with the emotions of this affair and its aftermath. Fassbinder tells his story in a series of 5 or 6 long scenes with extended uses of a single camera shot and deep focus.








Extras DVD2:
- Outsiders - in this new documentary film, actors Hanna Schygulla (Karin Thimm), Margit Carstensen (Petra von Kant), Eva Mattes (Gabriele von Kant), and Katrin Schaake (Sidonie von Grasenabb) discuss their contributions to The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, the film's visual style (and specifically its theatrical qualities and Michael Ballhaus' lensing), the relationships between the main characters and the film's message, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's directing methods and the group of actors he felt most comfortable working with (the Anti-Theater troupe), the German director's relationship with Gunther Kaufmann (who was Karin Thimm's model in real life), etc. The documentary film was produced by Criterion in 2014.

- Michael Ballhaus - in this new video interview, cinematographer Michael Ballhaus discusses his professional relationship with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, which began with Whity, the German director's admiration for Douglas Sirk's work, and some of the unique challenges he faced during the shooting of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in Berlin in 2014.

- Jane Shattuc - in this new video interview, Jane Shattuc, professor of visual and media arts at Emerson College and author of Television, Tabloids, and Tears: Fassbinder and Popular Culture, discusses Rainer Werner Fassbinder's fascinating relationship with the actors from the Anti-Theater troupe, his treatment of women in front and behind the camera, the Brechtian qualities of his films, his admiration for Douglas Sirk's melodramas, the victims and victimizers in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in September 2014.

- Role Play: Women on R. W. Fassbinder - presented here is an archival documentary film which was produced by Thomas Honickel for German television in 1992. Actors Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann, Margit Carstensen, and Rosel Zech discuss their complex personal and professional relationships with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the manner in which he frequently provoked some of them, how during the shooting of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant occasionally the line that separated the personalities of the women they played from their own was blurred, the German director's fondness for Hollywood cinema and strong female stars (Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis), the difficult relationship he had with his mother, his romantic life, etc.