柏蒂娜的苦泪

The theatrical setting of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant interests me the most as all the events take place within such a small apartment, the bedroom particularly. Within the room, Fassbinder can still create the depth and spatial relationship between actress and actress, actress and architecture. In the scene where Petra starts to play music, she sits next to the gramophone and behind her, Marlene is typing. Petra’s posture is coordinate with the model. Then the camera zooms out, Karin enters the scene and takes the place of Marlene. (59 min) Such particular spatial setting appears several times, for example while Marlene is helping Petra wearing shoes (65min). Through such spatial settings, it is obvious for audience to figure out who is the dominant figure in every situation and the their changing relationships as time passes.


Ming Wong’s Lerne Deutsch mit Petra Von Kant specially focus on the scene of Petra’s monologue. It amplifies the drastic emotional outlet of Petra and displays her inner self which cannot be so vividly presented and exposed in real life occasions. Yet, such emotional breakout is common and understandable in audience’s experience. It is exactly what Linda Williams indicates in “Melodrama Revised” that “melodrama is a peculiarly democratic and American form that seeks dramatic revelation of moral and emotional truths through a dialectic of pathos and action”. (Williams 42) She also argues that “The theatrical function of melodrama's big sensation scenes was to be able to put forth a moral truth in gesture and to picture what could not be fully spoken in words.” (Williams 52)


In this scene, Wong did not arrange a exact same setting as he did to other films he produced. Also, the engagement with other characters is also omitted. We could try to interpret his purpose of focusing on Petra alone in several ways. This monologue is the Petra’s reflection to herself. Even though she interacts with her daughter, mother and friend, she in fact is imploding, collapsing and rebuilding inside. Also, the props, actresses and settings no longer matter as they are only the tools that serve for the theme. Wong’s work is an explicit extract of Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Wong gets the essence of the film by reproducing it in such way.


It is so inarguably true that Linda Williams refers melodrama as the best representation of America's most controversial sexual, racial and gender issues. (Williams 82) It is a all female film while there is a disturbing male nudity on the wall painting. “The role of this enormous painting is not simply to provide pictorial opportunities for Fassbinder's camera. The painting stands for, and underlines, artifice.” by Paul Thomas in “Fassbinder: The Poetry of the Inarticulate”. To say the entire film is set up as an artifice, the best example can be found in the scene where Petra lies down and she stretch her legs in the bed. The female nudity in the painting does the same. The bare legs represent the sexual invite and implication as the relation develops between two. (41 min)


“you want to be told lies”
“Yes, lie to me. Please lie to me. ”
“I was walking alone all night. Thinking about us.”
“Really. That was not true.” By saying that, there is a fleeting and undisguised smile on Petra’s face as if she is completely convinced by the obvious lie. The phlegmatic expression on Karin’s face also indicates such lying between them is a norm that happens a lot. That’s what the melodrama is about. We see reality and humanity in an artefact.

多数此电影简介中，都说裴特拉是第一女主角，卡琳是第二女主角。但我认为两位女主角应是互为对照的裴特拉和玛莲娜。卡琳只是一个普通女子，无可深究。以下主要分析裴特拉和玛莲娜的对比。

裴特拉以自我为中心，玛莲娜以爱人为中心。这是对比的核心所在。此核心即是她们各自的牢笼。影片结尾，她们分别认识到此核心的荒谬之处，核心破坏，内心的牢笼打开，最终两人分别得到解脱。

裴特拉是利己主义的代表。她离了婚，事业有成。她认为只要努力追求就能得到自己想要的。但她不明白爱情并非物质。她对卡琳百依百顺，想以此留住卡琳。她的愚蠢显而易见：玛莲娜因为爱她而做了她的佣人，可她却不爱玛莲娜。既然她自己无法回报玛莲娜的付出，她又凭什么认为卡琳对她的付出就会有回报呢？

裴特拉的利己主义将爱变成占有欲。片中，裴特拉不止有一句台词表明要占有卡琳。她满足占有欲的方式就是给予卡琳物质享受。她不明白，只要卡琳不爱她，即使卡琳留下，她仍会痛苦。而爱情，是不可能用物质换取的。

裴特拉生日当天苦等卡琳。最终痛苦至极而大发雷霆，直闹腾得精疲力竭，倒在床上。此时卡琳真的来了电话，她反而平静了。

我想反复折磨裴特拉的，不是卡琳，而是“占有欲”的不能满足。想要占有他人的念头，最终捆绑的是自己。裴特拉最后意识到，卡琳对自己不重要。正是此刻，她获得了自由。

裴特拉是一个硬币的一面，另一面就是玛莲娜。

玛莲娜爱裴特拉，为她付出一切，包括尊严。最终，她的清醒源自裴特拉的两句话。

影片的结局是，裴特拉从失恋的痛苦中清醒过来，才注意到玛莲娜。她说要让玛莲娜得到“自由和快乐”。玛莲娜笑了，要亲吻裴特拉的手，裴特拉立刻抽回手，说“别这样！”，接着安慰似地说道：“说说你自己吧……”。玛莲娜无语，收拾行李，离开。

裴特拉果断拒绝玛莲娜的亲吻，让玛莲娜明白裴特拉对自己没有感情。裴特拉要玛莲娜说说自己，让玛莲娜明白裴特拉对自己始终无视。明白这两点后，玛莲娜才明白如此付出毫无意义。要追寻“自由和快乐”，只有离开：离开裴特拉的家——现实的牢笼；离开对裴特拉无望的爱——心灵的牢笼。

三人的感情纠葛是两段注定无望的爱情，两个悖论。其一，玛莲娜愿意为爱人付出一切，而她爱的人恰恰是崇尚自由独立的成功女性裴特拉。裴特拉自然不会对情愿成为爱情奴隶的玛莲娜有丝毫同情，更别提爱情。其二，裴特拉爱上同样自私自利、逍遥自在的美女卡琳。同样的利己主义将她们推向一条线的两端。一方面，利己主义的观念将裴特拉的爱变为占有欲。另一方面，利己主义让卡琳无视裴特拉的付出，更别提被占有。

裴特拉是一个有趣的角色，她既是被爱者，又是爱人者；既是被付出者，又是付出者。她处在这两个悖论的连结点。两个悖论连接在一起变成一个环，牢牢捆绑住她们。而悖论存在的前提，恰是三人错误的爱情观推导而出的逻辑。因此，只有当她们各自意识到观念的错误，才能打破这个环，获得解放。

另：

玛莲娜的表演者：爱玛·贺曼

“她（爱玛·贺曼）身材高大，乌黑的小眼睛深深陷下去，不漂亮，却藏着一种难以言传的力量。在所有跟法斯宾德过从甚密的女人中，恐怕没有比贺曼更爱更崇拜他的了，也正是这“爱”使她在法斯宾德眼里变得轻贱。法斯宾德为她打造的角色都是不起眼的，这次也不例外，是个机器般的工作狂女秘书，甚至连一句台词都没有。”——转自网络

如果上述为实情，爱玛·贺曼就是现实中的玛莲娜，法斯宾德找爱玛·贺曼来演这个角色也再自然不过。只是不知爱玛·贺曼演到电影结尾处是否明白法斯宾德的用意所在？

场景

这部电影的一大特色是整部影片只有一个场景，而且还是摄影棚搭出来的内景。整部电影更像一出话剧，而不是电影。以人物对话为重，情节为轻。但不知是否是翻译原因，对话读来有些不知所云，不免让人昏昏欲睡。

演员

幸好片中美女如云，颇能提神。两位台词最多的主要演员演技极佳，均为法斯宾德御用女演员：玛姬特·卡特和汉娜·许古拉。我看过前者主演的《玛尔塔》，后者主演的《玛利亚·布劳恩的婚姻》。两部电影都十分吸引人。两位女主角都给我留下了十分深刻的印象。不过相比之下，我得说还是玛姬特·卡特在《玛尔塔》中的形象给我留下的印象深刻。汉娜·许古拉是标准的美人，颇有风韵。但玛姬特·卡特的长相却十分特别，尤其那双眼睛、那张嘴和她的骨瘦嶙峋，让我过目不忘。《玛尔塔》中她的出色演出（我觉得她比男主角演得还要好，也许是因为男主角看上去还是没有她特别），让这部电影在我心目中留下了难以磨灭的印象。

这种电影不知道拍出来干嘛，极度做作，又没有什么现实意义，服装丑炸，拖沓沉闷…毫无节奏，节奏只有一种死掉的节奏……不知道在发什么痴……感觉才是痴子➕难看夸张的假头套的破电影……还好看到一半dvd卡牢了哈哈哈哈………女主角一个婴儿肥 一个牙齿辣辣黄…还有一个拼老命打字大饼面孔和打字机干上了…毫无美感可言……从头到尾没有音乐…当然脑残粉赞誉此为一种“风（疯）格”…我只能说德国人我看不懂 法海我不懂爱🍳艾玛 刚看到婴儿肥的脸上还有一个坑😾btw 大饼脸的妆是两截头的 脸煞煞白 头颈色差泾渭分明………这种又不是在拍日本艺妓的化妆，那人家是这样的……我不明白所谓那么细腻了解女人的男导演编剧怎么会这么粗糙
………毕竟27岁，感觉根本不懂女人…除了说女人是疯狂的爱情奴隶……然后没了……感觉没什么审美的…

“生活教给你的经验，别人偷不走。”
“怀着谦卑的心去对待一切。”
对丈夫不了解，于是分开。
喜欢的女人又跟男的去。
“我忍不住爱上了你。”
女友去找丈夫，孤独的她自言自语“至少给我打个电话，让我听听你的声音，这又不要花多少时间”，感觉很东方的台词。
“要振作下，走下坡路很快的。”
爱人不在，她的心情很糟，骂女儿和母亲是恶心的。
每个人都要慰藉，都要学会不求回报的付出。
她开始对照料她生活的女仆感兴趣，可是她离开了。最终她一人黑暗中睡下。