German actress, Margit Carstensen has been reported dead. She was known for playing in several movies and tv shows by film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Some of these movies and tv shows include Martha (1974), Fear of Fear (1975), Mother Kusters’ Trip to Heaven (1975), Satan’s Brew (1976), Chinese Roulette (1976), and more.
She was best known for playing the titular role in Fassbinder’s 1972 film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, which was also directed by Fassbinder.
Aside from doing several projects with the German director, she also appeared in other international productions including Possession (1981), by Polish filmmaker, Andrzej Zulawski. Four years later, she was called back by the same director to star in Angry Harvest (1985). The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Carstensen died after a prolonged illness on June 1, 2023.
Many people have expressed their condolences after her death was announced.
“Full on bawling to hear Margit Carstensen has died. My favorite Fassbinder actor, from Petra Von Kant to Martha to Chinese Roulette & beyond she’s the embodiment of his cinema,” Jason Adams wrote.
“To honor the memory of Margit Carstensen, I filled in a Fassbinder blind spot with Martha. RW’s Sirk worship reaches deliriously campy heights here, before descending into a truly horrific portrayal of spousal abuse and gaslighting, and finally unexpectedly swinging back to camp,” a fan wrote.
“RIP actress Margit Carstensen, so incredible as a member of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s collaborative troupe,” Mike Rubin wrote.
“Fassbinder was a great painter. He had a beautiful palette to work from. We’ve lost another of his distinctive hues. RIP Margit Carstensen,” Sarah AJ Cleary.
“The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant was both my first Fassbinder and my first film of hers. It’s still one of the most powerful films about how hard it is to recover from a breakup, and a masterpiece of German cinema. R.I.P. Margit Carstensen,” James Mackin wrote.
“RIP Margit Carstense: a Rainer Werner Fassbinder regular, and one of my favorite actresses. Terrified in MARTHA – playing a hausfrau cowed by a demonic husband into reading books about concrete fabrication – and terrifying in CHINESE ROULETTE, one of the best films ever made,” John Semley.