Peter von Kant

François Ozon offers a gender-reversed reworking of a Fassbinder classic, with Denis Ménochet excelling in a brittle contemplation of the agonies of love and art.

Early in his career, Ozon paid homage to German great Rainer Werner Fassbinder by adapting his play Water Drops on Burning Rocks. 22 years on, Ozon revisits Fassbinder in this elegant, inventive remake of his 1972 chamber classic The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant – with designer Petra here becoming filmmaker Peter, played by Denis Ménochet in a wardrobe inescapably evoking Fassbinder himself. Newcomer Khalil Gharbia, as Peter’s mercurial protégé Amir, and Hanna Schygulla – from the original film – are joined by Stéfan Crépon, as enigmatic factotum Karl, and Isabelle Adjani, wryly sending up her own caught-in-aspic diva mystique. Astutely playing on Fassbinderian echoes, this superbly acted and executed version gets under the skin of the original to witty and moving effect.

“Reverential and investigative in equal measure, and a fascinating watch that’s a feast for the eyes.” James Kleinmann, The Queer Review.