French Film Festival: Peter Von Kant 15

François Ozon goes back to his roots with this reworking of a Fassbinder classic – 1972’s hyper-stylised chamber piece The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant – and offers a gender-swapped version that serves as an indirect portrait of the troubled maestro himself.

Both homage and critique, Peter von Kant astutely gets under the skin of the lesbian-themed original and ekes out new resonances. The film features superb performances including a flamboyantly knowing diva turn from Isabelle Adjani (Possession, La Reine Margot).