Margit Carstensen
Actor · Died June 1, 2023, aged 83 · Kiel, Germany
Margit Carstensen (29 February 1940 – 1 June 2023) was a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Carstensen was born and raised in the northern German city of Kiel. Upon graduation from the local high school in 1958, she studied acting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. This education led to her first stage appearances in Kleve, Heilbronn, Münster, and Braunschweig. In 1965, Carstensen began a four-year engagement with the German Playhouse in Hamburg. In 1969, she gained a local profile for her work in the Theater am Goetheplatz in Bremen, where she first met director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. She then worked under his direction in a comedy by the 18th-century Venetian Carlo Goldoni, The Coffee Shop (which was recorded for television in 1970), bringing her national attention in West Germany. She subsequently played the role of serial murderess Geesche Gottfried in the premiere of Fassbinder's own play Bremen Freedom (also televised, in 1972), and then in the title role of his Henrik Ibsen adaptation Nora Helmer (televised in 1974) derived from A Doll's House. Outside of theatre, Carstensen played leading roles in the Fassbinder films The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), her best-known role for him; Martha (1974), analysing a traditional marriage in a contemporary setting; Fear of Fear (1975); Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven (1975); Satan's Brew (1976); Chinese Roulette (1976) and Women in New York (1977). She also appeared in episodes of two Fassbinder television productions: Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (1972), and Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980). From 1973 to 1976, Carstensen held a steady acting engagement in Darmstadt. In 1977, she moved to West Berlin where she performed on the highly regarded Staatliche Schauspielbühnen. In 1982, she moved to Stuttgart in order to work with director Hansgünther Heyme, where she appeared in a series of plays directed by him. During this time, Carstensen also worked in international film productions, such as Andrzej Żuławski's Possession (1981) and Agnieszka Holland's Angry Harvest (1985); the latter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. By the late 1980s, she had developed ongoing working relationships with German directors Werner Schroeter, Christoph Schlingensief, and Leander Haußmann. For the 2003–04 season, Carstensen appeared in the Vienna Burgtheater, in the premiere of Elfriede Jelinek's play Bambiland under the direction of Schlingensief. During the 2007–08 season Carstensen assisted with the Austrian-German TV documentary Mr. Karl – A Person for People, directed by Kurt Mayer. In 2016, she was still on television, appearing in the long-running series Tatort. Carstensen received many awards in her career. Among these were the 1973 German Film Awards (Gold), for her acting in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and the 2002 Bavarian Film Award, for her acting in Scherbentanz. In 1972 she was chosen by the German Film Critics Guild as Best Actress of the Year. In 2019, she was awarded the Götz-George-Preis for her life's work. Description above from the Wikipedia article Margit Carstensen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- February 29, 1940
- June 1, 2023 (aged 83)
- Kiel, Germany
- Actor
- 13 on MovieCove · 44 credits in all
What are Margit Carstensen's films like?
Across their 12 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Morality.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 2 · Wry 2 · Earnest 7
Light 1 · Serious 2 · Dark 9
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 7
Gentle 1 · Charged 2 · Intense 9
Steady 3 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 7
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 8 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 3
A split, not a type: Slow burn 7 · Even-paced 3 · Relentless 2
Casual 2 · Engaged 7 · Full focus 3
Easy watch 3 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 8
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 6 · Ambiguous 4
Roles they play
Usually the Ally: 2 of 3 analyzed roles.
- Heroas Petra von Kant in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
- Allyas Marianne Thälmann in Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975)
- Allyas Linda Barnes in It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007)
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet3
- Tragic4
- Ambiguous5
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Margit Carstensen's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 9 of their 13 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on The Criterion Channel (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Margit Carstensen's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
44 credits, 13 with a MovieCove page; 7 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Peter von Kant(2022)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films
Finsterworld (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Mea Culpa – A ReadyMadeOpera (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2009)
Eine Kirche der Angst vor dem Fremden in mir (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2009)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
Hands off Mississippi (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Agnes and His Brothers(2004)
Midcredits score: 63rd percentile of all films
Shattered Glass (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
Der Narr und seine Frau heute Abend in Pancomedia (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
Manila (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
John Gabriel Borkman (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
Sun Alley(1999)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Rider of the Flames (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Gesche's Poison (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films
100 Years of Adolf Hitler – The Last Hour in the Führerbunker (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)
Anwalt Abel (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1988)
La moitié de l'amour (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1985)
Angry Harvest(1985)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all films
The Roaring Fifties (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1983)
Liebeskonzil (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1982)
Possession(1981)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Berlin Alexanderplatz (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)
The Third Generation (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1979)
Spiel der Verlierer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1978)
Women in New York (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)
Adolf and Marlene (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)
Chinese Roulette(1976)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Fear of Fear (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1976)
Satan's Brew(1976)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all films
Derrick (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
Martha (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
Nora Helmer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
World on a Wire (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1973)
Tenderness of the Wolves(1973)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
Bremen Freedom (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)
Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
The Ancestress (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1971)
Tatort(1970)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all shows
The Niklashausen Journey (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
The Coffee House (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
Vorsicht Falle! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
Career shape
Star power in the 97th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 43 titles from 1964 to 2013; peak year 1975.
Biggest box office
Sun Alley (1999)
Highest rated
Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975)
Most popular right now
Possession (1981)
Film career
Peak 1975 · fewer prominent film roles lately. Top draw in 2 MovieCove titles. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 1972Screen debut· The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
- 1972First top-billed film· The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30; the columns are the share of top-billed roles in each era, 5-year spans from the year on the label, merged until each holds at least 5 roles.
How do Margit Carstensen's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 73rd percentile, the median of all 12; across their 12 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 70th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up6
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th3
Shape of the crowd
7 of their 13 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Cult Classic2
- Crowd Pleaser7
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the acting 73/100 in their films, across 12 reviewed titles; fans 82, detractors 43. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Margit Carstensen work with?
People who share at least 2 of Margit Carstensen's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Rainer Werner Fassbinder shares the most, 6.
Directors
- Rainer Werner FassbinderShared titles: Peter von Kant (2022), Chinese Roulette (1976), Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)See all 6 shared titles with Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writers
- Kurt RaabShared titles: Angry Harvest (1985), Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)See all 4 shared titles with Kurt Raab
- Oskar RoehlerShared titles: Agnes and His Brothers (2004), Terror 2000 - Intensivstation Deutschland (1992)See all 2 shared titles with Oskar Roehler
Actors
- Brigitte MiraShared titles: Chinese Roulette (1976), Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)See all 4 shared titles with Brigitte Mira
- Ingrid CavenShared titles: Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)See all 3 shared titles with Ingrid Caven
- Irm HermannShared titles: Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)See all 3 shared titles with Irm Hermann
- Ulli LommelShared titles: Chinese Roulette (1976), Satan's Brew (1976), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)See all 3 shared titles with Ulli Lommel
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Michael BallhausShared titles: Chinese Roulette (1976), Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)See all 4 shared titles with Michael Ballhaus
- Peer RabenShared titles: Chinese Roulette (1976), Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)See all 4 shared titles with Peer Raben
- Thea EymèszShared titles: Satan's Brew (1976), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)See all 4 shared titles with Thea Eymèsz
- Jürgen JürgesShared titles: Satan's Brew (1976), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)See all 2 shared titles with Jürgen Jürges
Producers
- Michael FenglerShared titles: Chinese Roulette (1976), Satan's Brew (1976), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)See all 4 shared titles with Michael Fengler
