THE EGO HAS LANDED

PETER VON KANT François Ozon freshens up Fassbinder with a masculine twist…

François Ozon has long harboured ambitions to remake Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1972 film The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant. But tackling this all-female tale of a cruel fashion designer was never going to be easy. “The original film is a masterpiece, a cult movie, and I was afraid,” admits Ozon, who previously made Fassbinder’s play Water Drops On Burning Rocks into a film back in 2000.

It was lockdown that finally convinced him, with the original’s claustrophobic apartment setting ideal for the production given France’s strict Covid protocols. But rather than simply revisit Fassbinder’s work, Ozon has chosen to gender-switch the lead, and Petra became Peter von Kant, a rapacious film director (Inglourious Basterds’ Denis Ménochet) who takes in a young lover, Amir (Khalil Ben Gharbia), while also abusing his mute assistant, Karl (Stéfan Crépon).

“I was interested to show the dynamics of power for a director,” says Ozon. “How do we use this power? Because of course it’s possible for a director to help someone to become a star.” As Fassbinder himself demonstrated, power can be abused. “There are many stories of his behaviour which are not acceptable today. And which were not acceptable in the ’70s too,” sighs Ozon. “Two of his lovers committed suicide – [and] he was in strong, sadistic relationships.”

Somewhat kinder to his cast, Ozon pays tribute to Ménochet (with whom he’s worked twice before, on 2012’s In The House and 2019’s By The Grace Of God). “I was very moved to see his real tears, because for me, it was important to be very melodramatic,” he says. “It’s quite different to Fassbinder’s film, in which there is always a distance. I wanted to be closer to the character. To give the opportunity to the audience to understand him and to like him, even if he’s a monster.”

Best of all, Ozon got to work with Fassbinder star Hanna Schygulla, who cameos. So did he quiz her about his German counterpart? “[I asked] many questions, but I won’t give you the answers,” he chuckles. “She didn’t give me all the answers either! She wanted to keep secret many things.

I think the relationships were very complex!”

PETER VON KANT OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 30 DECEMBER.

The film takes a look at the dark side of filmmaking.