Orla Meyer closed out Vadavision's pride block at Sun-Ray Cinema on the evening of June 30, 2026 by introducing a crowd of 40 stalwarts to this gem. After thanking the congregation for its devotion to the concluding block of programming, she described the film, and its director, as a response to and rejection of German culture during the 1930s and 1940s. Personally I find that curious since I kind of think Fassbinder would have fit right in to the Weimar scene.
Orla also drew a comparison between Bitter Tears and the preceding week's Women on the Edge of Nervous Breakdown, calling the audience to pay particularly close attention to how the director uses various techniques to create emotional distance between ourselves and the titular main character. I felt this observation well-made; Petra does not deserve the usual benefit of the doubt. For two exquisite hours Fassbinder conjures the world of a person who is both wise to weaknesses of the human heart and defenseless against them. Despite that pitiable state, we can find little pity for Petra--the emotional intelligence she bandies so excellently in the first act makes it impossible to sympathize with her heartache in the concluding act because we know that she knows better, likes to lord her high intellectual and economic station over others, yet still falls for the same gags that the rest of us do.
Prior to seeing this film, my only other contact with Fassbinder was Querelle, which is another classic of gay cinema but is very different from this movie. Whereas Querelle indulges in a certain dreaminess in its staging and lighting, this production feels much grittier; we never leave the narrow confines of Petra's boudoir and yet it feels like there's an entire world in there, which is a fine testament to any director who can pull it off.
This movie combines great, believable performances from everyone involved with skillful direction and has a couple of banger needle drops to boot. Highly Recommended.