A successful fashion designer, Petra (Margit Carstensen), spirals into heartache when she falls hard for the enigmatic Karin (Hanna Schygulla), a young aspiring model. Their entanglement unfolds like a warped runway show—full of longing, power plays, and razor-sharp dialogue.

In the early 1970s, Fassbinder discovered the American melodramas of Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life) and was inspired by them to begin working in a new, more intensely emotional register.

A queer cinema classic draped in fur, chiffon, and despair, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant remains a devastating portrait of love as performance, featuring exquisitely claustrophobic cinematography by Michael Ballhaus and full-throttle performances by an all-female cast.

Too Much: Melodrama on film is a UK-wide season, supported by BFI National Lottery funding, celebrating the vivid visual language, heightened dramatics and emotional pathos at the heart of film melodrama.