Peter von Kant

Peter von Kant is a successful film director. He lives with his assistant Karl, whom he likes to mistreat and humiliate. Sidonie is the great actor who was his muse for many years. She introduces him to Amir, a handsome young man of modest means. Peter falls in love with Amir on the spot and offers to share his apartment with him and help him break into the film industry. The plan works, but as soon as he acquires fame, Amir breaks up with Peter, leaving him alone to face his demons.

Loosely adapted from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Ozon’s cheeky take is an aesthete’s delight and a feast of satirical humour. An impressive, committed cast embraces wholeheartedly the French auteur’s ruthless commentary on celebrity and its shortcomings. All the performances are a delight: from Denis Ménochet’s physical tour-de-force as the tortured artist and a fearless Isabelle Adjani willingly riffing on her own film-star image to the reticent but astonishingly expressive Stéfan Crépon as the heartbroken assistant, young breakthrough talent Khalil Gharbia as the cruel Amir and, of course, the eternal Hanna Schygulla, in a moving appearance that nods reverently and sincerely to the source material.

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