The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

Petra von Kant (Carstensen) is a prominent fashion designer based in Bremen. The film is almost totally restricted to her apartment's bedroom, decorated by a huge reproduction of Poussin's Midas and Bacchus (c.1630), which depicts naked and partially clothed men. The room also contains numerous life-size mannequins for her work, though only her assistant Marlene (Hermann) is shown using them.

Petra's marriages have ended in death or divorce. Her first husband Pierre was a great love, who died in a car accident while Petra was pregnant; the second began the same way, but ended in disgust. Petra lives with Marlene, another designer, whom she treats as a slave, and this relationship reveals Petra's sadistic, codependent tendencies. Read more on Wikipedia.