The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - 1972
Performed as though on a stage, Fassbinder undoubtedly uses his camera for various means to make his film. The camera's ignoring of Marlene, for instance, following Petre, or later Karin, about is clearly there to show the principles of domination. Compositions often add an element for symbolic effect or emphasis, showing someone dwarfed by a piece of furniture or dominating over it. The props are further given attention in appropriate places, with special note given to the set design of the huge painting (the sadism of renaissance beauty; see Fellini, Greenaway) and the props of the drink bottles. Devices such as the Hitchcockian rule of closer for emphasis are also also. The pretty sparse sound design allows typing or footsteps to act as counters, to add to the image. This is pretty talky. We circle around, sometimes literally, prowl around the dominant women as the dialogue prowls around the particular relationship of command that is in place. As these slowly shift, in a very 'well-made play' arc, so do the appropriate camera positions. The mannered acting, cold dialgoue delivery, flight, combined also with the costumes, give that kind of mummified, preserved in ice appearance to the actors.