Alicia
I love this movie so much
ThiefHott
Too much of everything
Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Woodyanders
1957, Vienna. Morose and reserved ex-Nazi Max (superbly played with tremendous restraint by Dirk Bogarde) keeps a low profile by working as a night porter at a posh hotel. Max by chance gets reunited with concentration camp survivor Lucia (a very strong and fearless performance by Charlotte Rampling) and resumes the dangerous sadomasochistic affair that they started back in the 1940's.Director Liliana Cavani relates the absorbing story at a hypnotically languid pace, ably crafts a hauntingly bleak and melancholy tone, explores the severe emotional and psychological damaged wrought by the Third Reich with unflinching candor and directness, and follows the doomed romance between the deeply troubled main characters to its inevitably grim and tragic conclusion. Most importantly, although the twisted premise skirts with exploitation, Cavani's elegant style prevents the plot from degenerating into tasteless sleazy trash. Bogarde and Rampling do sterling work in their demanding roles; they receive sturdy support from Philippe Leroy as the sinister Klaus, Gabriele Ferzetti as the snoopy Hans, Isa Miranda as the dissipated Countess Stein, and Amedeo Amodio as junkie dancer Bert. The bold and incisive script by Cavani and Italo Moscati blurs the lines between love and hate as well as pain and pleasure with genuinely unsettling, yet still provocative results. Alfio Contini's sumptuous cinematography and the lovely classical music score by Daniele Paris further enhance the overall supremely classy decadence. A deliciously dark, daring, and deviant gem.
Leofwine_draca
THE NIGHT PORTER is one of those Italian art-house movies that goes out of its way to shock and as such has gained some notoriety over the years. In essence, the film charts the torrid love affair between a Nazi who managed to escape from the clutches of the Allies and one of the victims he tortured in a concentration camp. Instead of hating him, his victim finds herself falling for him, and the two embark on a painful, sadomasochistic relationship years before FIFTY SHADES OF GREY made the whole thing popular.I admit this whole set-up isn't really my cup of tea and I prefer films where the Nazis are being shot at rather than presented as broken, sympathetic people. Still, THE NIGHT PORTER is undoubtedly a well-shot movie, and Dirk Bogarde (VICTIM) is always fine playing these dark characters with their hidden secrets. I was a little cold where Charlotte Rampling's concerned, but then I've never really warmed to the actress. The plot is slow moving in this film but it always holds your attention and I appreciated the bleak ending, but it's the sexually-charged midsection that left me rather bored.
Justin Walker
I first saw this film at an open air (outdoors) cinema in sunny Australia a hundred yards from the beach and ocean on a warm night. I was immediately captivated by the rainy ,misty atmosphere of 1950's Vienna in the opening credit sequence as Max strolls to work with his umbrella and black trilby hat.It was like reading a period European novel. The 1950's cars (Simcas, Volkswagens,Saab etc.)the clothes , the plush period interior of the Opera Hotel and the carefully chosen locations of the ancient streets around Saint Stephens Cathedral ,Vienna give it a look of period reality and authenticity. The film moves at a real human pace - (no Computer Generated Explosions , Dragons, etc.) and so we are drawn into this human triangle from the start -like watching real life ( it is based on true events).Okay , the film presents religious problems ( Jew and German together) political problems ( hiding fascists) and some odd lovemaking - but whose life doesn't have problems at some point - and it is an over fifteen film. It is great viewing and I highly recommend it.
zuhairvazir
A wayward exploitation of the cinematic 'Nazi Evil' cliché, which prevailed throughout the seventies horror cinema; from mad doctors/scientists to jail guards with a penchant for bondage and puerile victims willingly giving themselves to the morbid fantasies of the script writer.The nonsensical screenplay of 'The Night Porter' pays homage to the latter and also adds to the distress of anti-porn activists by throwing in an uncomfortable-to- watch set piece.A holocaust victim suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome finds herself helplessly drawn to the impeccable and aching charms of a former tormentor and SS officer who has given himself to the succulent comfort of a non-significant existence after having basked in the degenerating excesses, which apparently the SS life offered.In hiding, we are shown, he has become a night porter at a hotel in post-war Vienna and prefers to live like a 'church mouse'. After their chance meeting both are ostensibly pulled into a dangerous game of lurid passion. A passion which is explored with more seriousness and insight in Star 80 (83).While Star 80 shows us the lecherous, conflicted and tragic demise of the American dream and destiny, The Night Porter simply wants us to swallow whole the idea of misplaced feelings and deviant sexual overplay as if it were a bonafide means to post trauma catharsis. If it weren't for the fervor in Cavani's operatic exploration, Charloette Rampling's off the rack and risqué performance and Bogarde's sullen yet decisive night porter the film would have been forgotten.
