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
Denis Ménochet, Isabelle Adjani, Khalil Gharbia, Hanna Schygulla, Stéfan Crépon, Aminthe Audiard
France
2022
In French and German with English subtitles
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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
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)