Watch The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant For Free

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I still can't get into Fassbinder's world, here. Saw it many years ago, possibly on Film 4 and now twice, recently where it's been on Sky Arts.There's no doubt that it is an important film, both for Fassbinder himself and for European cinema. It's like a moving art gallery, so well and immaculately filmed, the angles, the depth of focus and the set design all rivet one's eyes to the screen. The elegant, flowing movements of Margit Carstensen and Hanna Schygulla (as von Kant and her object of desire, Karin) are measured, precise, not like real life at all. They sometimes do appear like made up shop-dummies, so static; Fassbinder even includes actual dummies scattered around, limbless, clotheless - obviously a strong metaphor. von Kant IS a supremely influential and successful fashion designer and so maybe these visual signals extend this.However, this intense study of lesbian affairs - apparently an ode to the Bette Davis classic All About Eve; interestingly, Pedro Almodovir likewise made All About My Mother - which must have been quite a formidable movie to make exactly forty years ago - is basically, just talk. Of course, dialogue is important to all films but this is a world alien to me and something is locking me out. Maybe the visuals are too rich - the subtitles float above the perfect imagery. I can't help feeling that if one of my real favourite directors, Ingmar Bergman, was making this one, I'd be right in there.

'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant' focuses on a small number of characters, all female, as we see the story of the designer who can't function in her life. Living with Marlene, her co-designer, servant/slave, a shadowy figure who sees all but never speaks, Petra wallows in selfishness and introspection, which all comes to a head when she is introduced to the equally self-centred Karin, a young beauty who is more than a match for her mentor.Shot in long scenes with close-ups, deep focus, and dominated by a large painting of classical nudes and a selection of mannequins, this film is extremely slow but involving. Petra's life and reactions are highly stylised - her main connection with her emotions through music (three songs by The Platters and The Walker Brothers are used to excellent effect) - and it is difficult to emphasise with someone so shallow.With an ambiguous ending and characters who are largely unlikeable, this film is problematic - sometimes a bit of a bore, sometimes causing questions to occur which are never answered - but it is worth a look.

*There might be spoilers here, read at your own risk!*This movie looks and acts like a stage play. The actors pause oddly here and there for effect and act over the top. The colors and outfits are amazing. The camera angles, especially when Petra is waiting for Karin's phone call, are wonderful. She looks like she is lying on a sea of whipped creme!There is little to no action in this movie. It is completely filmed inside Petra's apartment with no outside shots and very little romantic or character driven scenes to establish relationships. The films relies on its words, the stories characters tell and silent tension between characters, especially the mute Marlene, who is a very mysterious character and possessed by Petra in an almost slave like way.I liked the film and think the time taken for details and color are amazing, but I wouldn't watch it over and over again. The acting is good and it is well worth a view. It reminded me at times of a colored silent movie and the films of Dietrich and Brooks...yet it had a 70's fashion edge...it is worth it to see Petra's bizarre pink Middle Ages meets Victorian Bo-Peep outfit and the one that is shown on the front cover...come for the outfits, stay for the stories!

Petra von Kant is Rainer Werner Fassbinder at his very best. Every single cut in this film looks absolutely gorgeous, the photography is stunning, and the actors look as if they haven't got a single feeling left to feel - except bitterness. It's also one of Fassbinder's most relentless and uncompromising dramas; the atmosphere of despair and loneliness is intense and effected me deeply, and the humor one finds in some of the director's other films is almost totally absent. Disney fans should probably think twice before viewing.