French film-maker François Ozon has always been a cinematic chameleon of sorts, changing styles and tones effortlessly as he flits from genre to genre, from frothy comedies (Potiche, 8 Women), to brooding thrillers (Swimming Pool, L’Amant double) and beyond. He’ll even add an extra gloss of flamboyant virtuosity by laying down a tracery of homage to Alfred Hitchcock or Claude Chabrol.
An unproduced play by German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder formed the basis for one of Ozon’s early breakout hits, Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000), a delicious bit of bedroom farce set in the 1970s. Now Ozon circles back to Fassbinder with Peter von Kant, a “freely adapted” gender-switched remake of the 1972 queer classic The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.
The set recalls the swishy colour-blocked apartment of Water Drops more than the grubby, cluttered atelier of Fassbinder’s original film, in which a slow, static sexual psychodrama unfolded with an all-female cast. Ozon’s version is snappier, funnier and yet more naturalistic as it tells the story of Peter (Denis Ménochet, magnificent), a film director styled to look like Fassbinder himself, who becomes besotted with his latest lover-muse Amir (Khalil Ben Gharbia). Pouting, pretty Amir doesn’t feel the same way and cheerfully throws back details of his latest dirty deeds to inflame Peter’s jealousy.
Peter’s former protégé, now superstar, Sidonie (Isabelle Adjani), his daughter Gabriele (Aminthe Audiard), and his mother (a deliciously cast Hanna Schygulla, the object of desire in the original film) all stop by to observe Peter’s final grand effondrement émotionnel. Throughout, his effectively mute, slave-like factotum Karl (Stefan Crepon) sees all and hears all, silently judging with his huge “cow-like” eyes and crisp moustache, another link in the chain of desire.
Enjoyable as this is, it sometimes feels like an academic exercise and is not as rewarding as Ozon at his best. Nevertheless, mediocre Ozon is still vastly better than many a director’s finest effort, and Ménochet’s sublime performance is worth seeing in all its opera buffa grandeur.
★★★★☆
On Curzon Home Video from December 23 and in UK cinemas from December 30
