The Night Porter

source: The Night Porter

Trailer—Il portiere di notte

Il portiere di notte

The film is excellently photographed and edited… There is much artistry in the acting, especially by Dirk Bogarde, who is able to genuinely convey strong mixed emotions An ex-Nazi scientist hides out as a porter in a German hotel after the War... One day a very rich woman enters the place, a woman he recognizes as one of his concentration-camp sex-experiment subjects... She recognizes him too, but instead of turning him over to the authorities, she strikes up a dead and perverse relationship with him and slips back into her role as a sex slave The movie carefully moves from a slightly romantic byplay to a sexually perverse relationship between the two people, ending in a controversial scene where the woman is chained inside an apartment and repeatedly raped… Most disturbing is the film's accuracy, despite its rather unorthodox development... The motion picture is not necessarily stimulating, but seriously portrays the damage that can be done by sexual abuse

Some time after World War 2, a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, Lucia (played by Charlotte Rampling), stumbles across the Nazi officer who tormented her, Max (Dirk Bogarde). He is now a night porter at a hotel. They resume their sado-masochistic relationship... Mildly interesting, and not anywhere near the classic it is sometimes made out to be. Plot wasn't predictable though - has one huge twist about halfway through, which drives the second half of the movie. Not the great exposition on the effects of Nazism and the concentration camps I was expecting though. Not overly profound at all, in fact. Drags at times - a bit of editing and it could at least been less dull. Decent performances by Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling.

In some ways this film is still very shocking. Although it is neither violent nor vulgar, the situation is disturbing and violent -actually it's something we DON'T see with our eyes: a psychological violence. Some years after the end of Second World War, a woman meets in a hotel her jailer during her concentration camp period. He was an SS officer, now he's a night porter. With him she re-starts a relationship made of attraction and sadomasochism. The film is shocking because it describes an insane situation, led by two insane people. These are the disturbing elements of the film, because spectators don't feel well in seeing that. The atmosphere has something very icy and miserable. I think it's precisely Liliana Cavani's goal: a study of insanity, without self-indulgence. After 30 years "Night porter" remains a gem. An intelligent movie, full of provocation. Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde are extraordinary.