Stometer
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
Rexanne
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
gavin6942
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.Criterion has released the film and calls to our attention the "claustrophobic cinematography". Indeed, how can it be anything other than claustrophobic when we never leave the room? Much of the two hours takes place in a bed, with little beyond. This is quite a minimalism, and suggests the film is based on a stage play.Fassbinder is known for his modern German interpretations of Douglas Sirk. This is one of his Sirk-inspired works. Maybe not his best, though that is all in the eye of the beholder. A second viewing may change my opinion on the matter.
Jackson Booth-Millard
From director Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Fear Eats the Soul), the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die has provided me with plenty of films I am keen to see, and this one from Germany is one of them. Basically the film restricts us to staying inside the apartment of successful fashion designer Petra Von Kant (Margit Carstensen), who is arrogant, caustic and self-satisfied, and this includes being rude and constantly ordering about her secretary, maid and co-designer Marlene (Irm Hermann). Petra is being visited by twenty three year old Karin Thimm (Hanna Schygulla) who wants to be a model, but as they get to know each other in their time together they seem to fall in love, and she asks her new love interest to move in. We see the affair continue on until Karin walks out, and we see Petra turn into an emotional wreck, on her birthday in front of her friends and family, they all leave her to wallow in self pity, Marlene finally decides she has had enough, and Petra is left alone sobbing. Also starring Katrin Schaake as Sidonie Von Grasenabb, Eva Mattes as Gabriele Von Kant and Gisela Fackeldey as Valerie Von Kant. Carstensen gives a great performance as the beauty who seems to only care about herself, getting everything she wants and attempting a lesbian relationship that goes wrong, the story is based on the director's own personal experiences as a homosexual, and with inspiration from All About Eve, it is unusual viewing and did not fully make sense at all times for me, but overall it is a rather interesting melodrama. Very good!
kwiggins
For those of you who have seen this movie and were bored to death, I can only say: You have not seen enough Fassbinder! This is one more tale of lost love but Petra could never attain true love because she is a dictator looking for victims to dominant. But, as in many a Fassbinder film, the tide turns against her when she meets Karin. Petra heartily gobbles up Karin's tale of lower-class woe and is soon a pathetic mess. This is an extremely well crafted film and each shot is thoroughly composed. Pay close attention to the positioning of Marlene, to the mannequins and, of course, the penis (symbolizing the male-dominated world of which all woman are victims). The penis even gets the spotlight over Hannah Schygulla at one point. In the Fassbinder world, we are all victims, all someone's prey, because we need love and will jump headlong into the abyss to attain it. We will humiliate and degrade ourselves. Petra becomes more and more like a mannequin as the movie unfolds symbolizing her degradation and emotional turmoil. I gave this movie a 10 because, while not Fassbinder's best, it still beats most of what Hollywood has put out in the last 30 years and many of the movies that have wound up in IMDb's top 250. Lastly, for the uninitiated and the unbelievers, Fassbinder challenges the viewer constantly to look closer and dig deeper into human relationships and whether real, true, lasting love is even attainable. He pushed the limits of what a movie is and what it can achieve, failing several times along the way. The result is some of the most thought-provoking, intense movies ever made.
MartinHafer
Perhaps this film was controversial when it was first released--with its themes of bisexuality/lesbianism. However, in the 21st century it is no longer shocking. Because of this, the film can be examined NOT for its shock value but for its actual content and pacing. And, when seen in that light, the film seems VERY static and dull. I'm talking REAL dull. The characters talk and talk and talk and suffer from so MUCH angst. My idea of interesting is NOT watching a spoiled German woman get drunk and depressed! This movie is definitely for some tastes but not for all. Be forewarned! There are many better German films as well as Fassbinder films--try these first.
