The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant follows the title character who lives in a self-created dreamland, a languid, overripe environment that lacks any reference to the world outside its walls. After her marriage fails, Petra falls for Karin, a beautiful working-class girl whose exploitation of Petra mirrors Petra’s extraordinary psychological abuse of her silent maid Marlene. The relationships are drafted from a slow, trancelike manipulation that hints at a vast world of longing beneath the beautiful, brittle surface. The inevitable deterioration, fueled by gin and hatred shatters the fragile fairy tale Petra has created.