The Criterion Collection has released a clip from an exclusive new video interview with acclaimed cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, which appears on the label's Blu-ray release of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's recently restored
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.
You can see our listing and review of this release
here.
Official synopsis: In the early 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder discovered the American melodramas of Douglas Sirk and was inspired by them to begin working in a new, more intensely emotional register. One of the earliest and best-loved films of this period in his career is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, which balances a realistic depiction of tormented romance with staging that remains true to the director's roots in experimental theater. This unforgettable, unforgiving dissection of the imbalanced relationship between a haughty fashion designer (Margit Carstensen) and a beautiful but icy ingenue (Hanna Schygulla)—based, in a sly gender reversal, on the writer-director's own desperate obsession with a young actor—is a fully Fassbinder affair, featuring exquisitely claustrophobic cinematography by Michael Ballhaus and full-throttle performances by an all-female cast. NEW 4K RESTORATION.