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Peter Von Kant film image, director François Ozon

Peter Von Kant

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Canadian Premiere

VIFF regular François Ozon and his lead actor Denis Ménochet must have had a ball crafting this wickedly campy, thoroughly cinematic, gender-reversed take on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Ménochet plays successful film director Peter—not coincidentally the spitting image of Fassbinder—who falls hard for the 22-year-old Amir (Khalil Gharbia) and then suffers the ultimate heartbreak when Amir, now a successful actor, ditches him. All of Peter’s petty jealousies, his vanity, and his possessiveness provide ammunition for Ménochet’s monster of a performance, while scene-stealing turns from his mute, long-suffering butler, Karl (Stéfan Crépon), his mother, Rosemarie (Fassbinder regular Hanna Schygulla), and his former muse/lover Sidonie (Isabelle Adjani) augment this stylish chamber piece.

Both homage and critique, Peter von Kant astutely gets under the skin of the lesbian-themed original, ekes out new resonances and proves both authentically Fassbinderian and altogether Ozonesque in its ironic sensibilities.”—Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

 

Supported by

Director
Cast

Denis Ménochet, Isabelle Adjani, Khalil Gharbia, Hanna Schygulla, Stéfan Crépon, Aminthe Audiard

Credits
Country of Origin

France

Year

2022

Language

In French and German with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
84 min
Drama LGBTQIA2S+ Romance

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Credits

Producer

François Ozon

Screenwriter

François Ozon

Cinematography

Manu Dacosse

Editor

Laure Gardette

Production Design

Katia Wyszkop

Original Music

Clément Ducol

Director

François Ozon headshot, Peter von Kant director

François Ozon

Director and screenwriter François Ozon was born in Paris and studied at La Fémis film school. His Berlinale award-winning films include Water Drops on Burning Rocks, which won the 2000 Teddy Award; 8 Women (2002), whose ensemble cast won the Silver Bear; and By the Grace of God (2019), for which he won the Grand Jury Prize. In 2012, he was a member of the Competition jury himself. Peter Von Kant is his fifth film to screen in the Berlinale Competition.

Filmography: Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000); 8 Women (2002); Angel (2007); By the Grace of God (2019)