An accompanying piece to Petra Von Kant, this is the ever reliable Ozon making another ever reliable film. An amusing and bold reimagining of Fassbinder’s classic that’s as much a tribute to the every day service workers of the industry as it is a critique of the director’s ego and the so-called auteur theory.
The film focuses on the ego of the director and his so-called masterpieces about the working class and when he is infact, a nightmare person himself. This director is Peter von Kant himself, played by Denis Ménochet, mourning the loss of a lover when a new hot young actor enters his life seeking opportunity - Khalil Ben Gharbia's Amir, who is taken under his wing - true love, or just opportunity? It's hard to say - and it quickly turns into a game of actor and director playing each other's strings. It starts ideally when they move in together but doesn't last long - and the film pulls down that illusion in its emotionally charged second half.
For all the focus that said on the actors it's telling that the film's true star doesn't even make the poster - the ever tolerant, all-seeing, all-knowing Karl, who goes loyally through one of the most hellish service jobs in the world. I'd have quit day one. But I am so glad he didn't, as that ending is so satisfying on so many levels. Bravo Stefan Crepon, who tells us everything without a single word.
