On the other hand, a closer reading of this English-language psychological thriller suggests a dark vision of compelling characters doomed by their World War II past. But the resulting film left me bored and uninterested, as it is terribly drawn-out, aloof, thematically generic, and very, very tedious. The Night Porter is one of the most bizarre psychodramas in the history of film, using the Holocaust as a dreamy, abstract backdrop for a toxic romance between a former SS officer (Dirk Bogarde) and the “little girl” (Charlotte Rampling) he isolated, humiliated, and raped in a Nazi concentration camp. Its themes of sexual and sadomasochistic obsession have made the film controversial since its initial release, dividing critics over its artistic value. Also on iTunes and Spotify. Thirteen years after World War II, concentration camp survivor Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) and her tormentor Max (Sir Dirk Bogarde), currently the night porter at a Vienna hotel, meet again and fall back into their sado-masochistic relationship. View production, box office, & company info. Written by The story of The Night Porter is about two people who meet again in 1957 after they had been separated for twelve years. Immediately, the woman, Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), and Max recognize each other from years earlier, when she was a victim in a Nazi concentration camp, and Max was a Nazi guard. Max (Dirk Bogarde) is a middle-aged man who works as a night porter for a chic hotel in Vienna. A hotel bellboy takes on a task of helping a woman find her lost luggage but their brief encounter turns into the love story of his dreams. Severin Announces The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Blu-ray Collection, The Night Porter review – descent into sex and Nazism still chills. Frequent flashbacks to the Nazi concentration camp muddle the story rather than clarify it. Documentary featuring interviews with female partisans who participated in the resistance and survived the German invasion of Italy in the 1940's. Some of our favorites stars share the women's stories that they turn to for inspiration and motivation during Women's History Month and beyond. Most critics hated it. Subscribe Share Share with your friends 1:58:18 The Night Porter The Night Porter. Certificate: GP Eventually, Max quits his job, devoting all of his time to Lucia. Max wishes to remain hidden, but he voices support for the group's activities. Bogarde was playing Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, a Nazi SS officer. If that sounds absolutely outrageous, that was surely part of the design. Two gunshots ring out, and the lovers fall dead. Dirk Bogarde gives a dull, mannered performance. Use the HTML below. Fausto's mother refuses to accept the fact that her child is deaf, and refuse to send him to a special school where he can learn sign language. The Night Porter (The Criterion Collection) Charlotte Rampling (Actor), Dirk Bogarde (Actor), Liliana Cavani (Director) Many sacrifice their dignity and morale to survive. The Night Porter: Nazi porn or daring arthouse eroticism? In 1957, Lucia, now married to an American orchestra conductor, meets Max again by chance. He spends days with Lucia in his apartment, chaining her to the wall so that "they can't take her away" and sleeps little. Drama. 223 likes. A forty year old woman, who has been in an asylum, goes to live with her brother's family. The reign of the tormented Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from 1864 to 1886. Set in Vienna in 1957, "The Night Porter" is a slow paced psychological study based on the true story of that most exploitative and controversial of relationships: a love affair between a concentration camp prisoner and SS officer. "The Night Porter" is as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering. The group's leader, Hans Fogler, accuses Max of wanting to live 'hidden away like a church mouse'. Except Night Porter isn’t that simple – you might expect after the initial shock of encountering this former SS officer who used her, Lucia would be angry, seek justice, tell her husband and then the authorities who Max really is. A European family in East Africa finds itself caught up in an uprising by local black Africans against their white colonial masters. Directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, the film stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and features Philippe Leroy and Gabriele Ferzetti. The Night Porter In this unsettling drama from Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani, a concentration camp survivor (Charlotte Rampling) discovers her former torturer and lover (Dirk Bogarde) working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. A closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice. "'The Film You Are About to See is Based on Fact': Italian Nazi Sexploitation Cinema" in Mathijs, Ernest and Mendik, Xavier (2004), "'The Night Porter,' Portrait of Abuse, Stars Bogarde", "The Uses of Memory and the Abuses of Fiction: Sexuality in Holocaust Fiction and Memoir", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Night_Porter&oldid=1008988249, Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 26 February 2021, at 03:14. The New Yorker’s pithy Pauline Kael wrote that it proved that: ‘women can make junk just as well as men’. It got glowing reviews and seething ones. It was banned outright in a few countries, celebrated in some high-society circles, reviled in others. Written by Ed Sutton Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis Max (Dirk Bogarde) is a discreet, unassuming night porter working in a posh hotel in Vienna in 1957, tending to the guests' needs, from cold water to a bed-warming gigolo. It's almost as if the writer and/or the director were afraid to confront the controversial topic head-on. Because she could testify against him, Lucia's existence is a threat to Max. [1] Directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, the film stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and features Philippe Leroy and Gabriele Ferzetti. — Ed Sutton She proves incapable of adapting herself to family life, takes refuge in the country alone with her memories, and is later returned to the asylum. (1974). Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. At Oxford, Austrian student Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard) is dating fellow student William (Michael York), whom she plans to marry, but she ends up sleeping with two unhappily married Oxford professors instead. T he Night Porter is a provocative and problematic film. Made in 1974 by Italian director Liliana Cavani, it can be seen as an exercise in perversion and exploitation of the Holocaust for the sake of sensationalism. One day a woman and her husband register at the hotel. It is (I know how obscene this sounds) Nazi chic. Meanwhile, Fogler has Max spied on by a youth who works at the hotel. Background music is low-key and a tad mournful. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. The Night Porter caused consternation when it was first released. Max is interviewed by the police about Mario's murder. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? He returns to Lucia, telling her that the police questioned him and others at the hotel about her disappearance, and that no suspicion fell on him. The SS officers cut off the couple's supply of food from a nearby grocery store. I didn't like either Max or Lucia. Thirteen years after World War II, concentration camp survivor Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) and her tormentor Max (Sir Dirk Bogarde), currently the night porter at a Vienna hotel, meet again and fall back into their sado-masochistic relationship. Based on the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya in the early 1950s. Its themes of sexual and sadomasochistic obsession have made the film controversial since its initial release, dividing critics over its artistic value. He goes to see a former Nazi collaborator, Mario, who knows Lucia is still alive; Max murders him to protect his secret. The Night Porter's salaciousness gives its exploration of historical trauma a bitter aftertaste, but audiences seeking provocation are unlikely to forget the sting of this erotic drama. A concentration camp survivor rekindles her sadomasochistic relationship with her lover, a former SS officer - now working as a night porter at a Vienna hotel - but his former Nazi associates begin stalking them. ... [I]t can be seen as an exercise in perversion and exploitation of the Holocaust for the sake of sensationalism. Fogler, who wants Lucia to testify against Max in the mock trial—though he harbors more ambiguous long-term intentions toward her—visits and informs her that Max is ill. The Night Porter (Italian: Il portiere di notte) is a 1974 Italian erotic psychological drama film. GPS HOSPITALITY. Memories of the past punctuate Max and Lucia's present with urgent frequency, suggesting that Lucia survived through her relationship with Max – in one such scene, Lucia sings a Marlene Dietrich song, "Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte" ("If I could make a wish"), to the camp guards while wearing pieces of an SS uniform, and Max "rewards" her with the severed head of a male inmate who had been bullying her, a reference to Salome. And did they ever! who had pursued a sadomasochistic relationship with a concentration camp prisoner called Lucia played by Charlotte Rampling. The Night Porter Title: Night Porter, The (1974) - The Magic Flute Now shooting at the Volksoper opera house in Vienna, during a performance of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” staged by the husband of Nazi concentration camp survivor Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), further flashbacks from director Liliana Cavani reveal more of her past with the title character, Dirk Bogarde, also in the audience, in The Night Porter, 1974. While recovering in Venice, sickly Composer Gustav von Aschenbach becomes dangerously fixated with teenager Tadzio. Films and Filming magazine (a forerunner to Sight and Sound, with a large gay readership) gloried in its decadence.And, well, then there was the poster. Max barricades the door to the apartment, and he and Lucia begin rationing. After the Allies liberate Naples in 1943, the life for the locals is not much easier, especially for women. View all jobs at GPS HOSPITALITY Report Job. Second EP "...When the carousel broke down" now available! Charlotte Rampling's performance is almost indistinguishable from that of a department store mannequin.I admire the attempt to make a film whose story was, at the time, offbeat and controversial. The Night Porter (Italian: Il portiere di notte) is a 1974 Italian erotic psychological drama film. His aunt, though, teaches him to communicate,... See full summary ». For a movie about a kinky romance between an ex-Nazi and his former prisoner, "The Night Porter" is bewilderingly dull. Then Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) arrives at the hotel, on the arm of her husband, an American composer, and … [1], In her essay for the Criterion Collection release, Annette Insdorf called The Night Porter "a provocative and problematic film. The Night Porter is undeniably a phenomenally powerful film. After Lucia's husband leaves town on business, Max and Lucia renew their past lovemaking in Max's apartment. There are compelling reasons why it … Operatic and disturbing, THE NIGHT PORTER deftly examines the lasting social and psychological effects of the Nazi regime. Max parks his car on a bridge, where he and Lucia walk along the sidewalk as dawn breaks. Add the first question. The Night Porter emerged at a time when it was fashionable to see fascism and Nazism in terms of sexual psychopathology or chic decadence: it could … Ed Sutton . 6 of 9 people found this review helpful. The Night Porter is widely considered to be a Nazisploitation film[2][3][4] and a cult classic. Take a closer look at the various roles Oscar nominee Viola Davis has played throughout her acting career. Max tormented Lucia, but also acted as her protector. Max refuses to go through with the trial, calling it 'a farce', and admits that he works as a night porter due to his sense of shame in daytime. But I don't know that we really learn much about the topic, as it is approached in such a standoffish way. Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide called it a "Sleazy, bizarre drama", awarding it two out of four stars. A concentration camp survivor discovers her former torturer and lover working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. Indeed, none of the script's characters are particularly sympathetic.Color cinematography is adequate, if unremarkable. He suggests that Lucia must also be ill to allow herself to be in this position, but she sends him away, claiming to be with Max of her own free will. The film's overall tone is somber and gloomy. So "The Night Porter" gets points from me for the courage of its story concept. Max (Dirk Bogarde) is a discreet, unassuming night porter working in a posh hotel in Vienna in 1957, tending to the guests' needs, from cold water to a bed-warming gigolo. It would be hard, though, to think of a meet less cute than the one in The Night Porter, Liliana Cavani’s erotic drama from 1974. The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich. This FAQ is empty. The Night Porter position requires you to use motion that entails pushing, pulling, stretching and continuous bilateral use of fingers and wrists. Upper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda. He is now a night porter at a hotel in Vienna, and a reluctant member of a group of former SS comrades who have been carefully covering up their pasts by destroying documents and eliminating witnesses to their wartime activities. The actor Dirk Bogarde was standing outside the Karl Marx-Hof workers’ apartments in Vienna ready to shoot a scene for Liliana Cavani’s film The Night Porter. Max retreats again to the apartment, where Lucia is almost unconscious from malnutrition. Max (Dirk Bogarde) works nights at a sophisticated hotel, and Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) is now married to an operatic conductor. … Thirteen years after World War II, concentration camp survivor Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) and her tormentor Max (Sir Dirk Bogarde), currently the night porter at a Vienna hotel, meet again and fall back into their sado-masochistic relationship. "[1], 1974 Italian erotic psychological drama film, Koven, Mikel J. Thirteen years after World War II, concentration camp survivor Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) and her tormentor Max (Sir Dirk Bogarde), currently the night porter at a Vienna hotel, meet again and fall back into their sado-masochistic relationship. The Night Porter. The Most Controversial Picture of Our Time! The SS officers are infuriated at Max for hiding a key witness. "[9] Vincent Canby, another prominent critic for The New York Times, called it "romantic pornography" and "a piece of junk". [2][5][6] In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.[7]. In responses to The Night Porter, Cavani was both celebrated for her courage in dealing with the theme of sexual transgression and, simultaneously, castigated for the controversial manner in which she presented that transgression: within the context of a Nazi Holocaust narrative. The Night Porter, released in 1974 but set primarily in 1957, takes that noxious idea even further, suggesting a passion so deep that it can’t be denied even many years later. During World War II, Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, a former Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) officer who had posed as a doctor to take sensational photographs in concentration camps, and Lucia Atherton, a teenage girl interned in a concentration camp due to her father's Socialist political ties, had an ambiguous sadomasochistic relationship. Was this review helpful to you? After one of the SS cuts off the electricity in Max's apartment, Max and Lucia, respectively dressed in his Nazi uniform and a negligee resembling the one she had worn in the concentration camp, leave the building and drive away; they are soon followed by a car driven by Max's former colleagues. We are introduced to 'The Night Porter' who is a hardworking man so completely devoted to his job, he is only referred to by his title and above all he values his crucial dedication to the smooth running of The Saladin Inn. Their relationship at that time was one of master/slave. When the couple attempt to re-create their sadomasochistic relationship, his former SS comrades begin to stalk them. Now reunited by fate, Max and Lucia resume their strange, erotic relationship.This is a difficult film to sit through, not because of the erotic subject matter, but because of a script that is too timid. Drama, Certificate: Tous publics Max confesses to Countess Stein, another guest at his hotel, that he has found his "little girl" again. The Countess tells him that he is insane; Max replies that they are both 'in the same boat'. “The Night Porter” was deliberately provocative, and the reaction it provoked ran the gamut. The only part I found engaging was the sequence at the Nazi sex club.The film has been described as a psychological study of masochism. Max seeks help by phoning one of his old hotel friends, who refuses, and imploring his neighbor, but she is prevented from providing aid by Adolph, the youth who had spied on Max earlier. Once you have seen it, you can never forget it. Max has an upcoming mock trial at the hands of the group for his war crimes. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. [8] In The New York Times, Nora Sayre praised the performances of Bogarde and Rampling, and the "dark, rich tones" of the cinematography, but began her review by writing "If you don't love pain, you won't find "The Night Porter" erotic—and by now, even painbuffs may be satiated with Nazi decadence. 77354 USA. So they set out to downplay it. The Night Porter had its origins in documentaries Cavani made for Italian television in the early 1960s, about fascism and resistance in World War II. The Night Porter is comedic, dramatic and most of all incredibly entertaining. The plot is circuitous, the dialogue is taciturn, and characters are listless. 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