Karl, squeeze me an orange juice. Karl, type the script. Karl, write this letter down. Karl, the mail! One senses that this German master director has passed his zenith, in 1972 Peter von Kant (Denis Menochet) is still in top form when it comes to demoting his secretary.
The young man, modeled into a human puppet by Stefan Cepron, is Kant’s machine, which he feeds with orders in his chic Cologne apartment, a magnificently furnished museum for Kant’s “greatness”. He is staged in the film of the same name by François Ozon (“8 Femmes”).
In the footsteps of Fassbinder
The way in which Karl is enslaved in this chamber play will assure cineastes what they thought when they saw the film’s title: the Frenchman Ozon puts his interpretation of the work “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” (1972) by the German director Rainer Werner here Fassbinder (1945–1982, more below) – a destroyer of the conventional, with which one can describe “toxic masculinity” as well as creative innovation today. Nevertheless, in a cosmopolitan cinema, Ozone’s performance should not primarily be judged by dealing with Fassbinder’s legacy. The question is: Has Ozon recognized the timelessness of this work and staged it in such a way that it moves without prior knowledge? Yes he has.
Kant falls head over heels in love with the young Amir (Khalil Ben Gharbia), who is introduced to him by his best friend: the Hollywood diva Sidonie, played by the French star Isabelle Adjani (67). The self-righteous creative dances to her chanson, who will never turn into permanent disgust. Sidonie sings: “Everyone kills what they love.” And sets the direction.
In a brilliant performance, Menochet develops his character as a transgression of boundaries incarnate in relationships: he loves, exalts, embraces, dominates, degrades, drops – be it Amir, Sidonie, his daughter, mother or himself.
Ozon manages a noble as well as tough piece of cinema about the contradictions of being together and about selfish nature. Fassbinder connoisseurs will discover it everywhere. But you don’t have to be to be fascinated.
“Peter von Kant”: FRA 2022, 86 mins, in cinemas now
OÖN Rating:
The trailer for the film:
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s original
Unlike Peter von Kant, the film “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” is about a lesbian relationship between a designer and a model. It is regarded as Fassbinder’s autobiographical mirror, and the current leading actor looks similar to him. In 1972, Fassbinder muse Hanna Schygulla (78) gave the model. In “Peter von Kant” she is the mother.
Source: Nachrichten
