Overview
A tumultuous love affair unfolds in the world of high fashion, where desire and power collide.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- claustrophobic
- melancholic
- caustic
- focused cinephile viewing
- theater adaptation night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a thoughtful, formally distinctive drama whose portrait of a tortured search for connection gains power through its performances and retrospective resonance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The action unfolds in Petra’s apartment across five or six long scenes, emphasizing confinement and interpersonal pressure.
Fassbinder uses extended camera shots and deep focus to keep characters, rooms, and the visual backdrop active at once.
Petra’s relationships with Marlene and Karin are structured through domination, dependency, desire, and emotional mistreatment.
Petra’s intense attachment to Karin drives the affair and its painful aftermath.
Films like The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and why
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
shared claustrophobic relationship drama, emotional cruelty, and formal theatricality
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
shared Fassbinder-era melodrama, queer desire, class tension, and emotionally corrosive intimacy
Carol
shared lesbian relationship drama, loneliness, codependency, and psychologically intense performances
The Servant
shared chamber-drama structure, power games, and stylized examination of desire
Movie Details
- Director
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Release Date
- 1972-10-05
- Runtime
- 124 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (243)
Cast
- Margit Carstensen
- Hanna Schygulla
- Katrin Schaake
- Eva Mattes
- Gisela Fackeldey
- Irm Hermann
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant about?
- A fashion designer’s consuming attraction to an aspiring model exposes a closed world of desire, dependency, and emotional domination.
- What is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.
- What did critics think of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a thoughtful, formally distinctive drama whose portrait of a tortured search for connection gains power through its performances and retrospective resonance.
- Which films are like The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant?
- Films with a similar feel include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Carol, and The Servant.
- How long is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant?
- The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant runs 124 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant?
- In United States, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max.
