"The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant"
1972
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

"A tragi-comic love story disguised as a lesbian slumber party in high-camp drag" (Molly Haskell), the film makes us a witness to the struggles for domination among three lesbians: a successful and "liberated" fashion designer, her contented and silent slave girl, and a sultry but cruel model who ends up making the master her slave. The dynamics of their interrelationships are played out in this claustrophobic, self-contained little world, accompanied only by the music of The Platters and Giuseppe Verdi. A riveting chamber drama of style. With Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Eva Mattes and Irm Hermann. German with English subtitles. 124 minutes.