Wonderful character development!

ridiculous rating

Really Surprised!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Dark, depressing, and, at times, deeply disgusting, Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter (1974) is undoubtedly one of the most emphatic examinations of sadomasochistic love in all cinema.Charlotte Rampling plays the challenging part of a sexually depraved Holocaust victim with such remarkable poise and conviction that it never really comes across as a performance. In spite of ourselves, we can't help but approve of her strange actions and behavior.The grueling part of the Nazi officer who abuses her, both physically and emotionally, is sublimely played by the great English actor Dirk Bogarde. It's a role that a lesser actor could have made appear vulgar, but, vintage Bogarde, we get to vicariously experience the masochistic pain and suffering that his character goes through every time he abuses his helpless victim.The Night Porter is certainly not a movie for the faint hearted and the only way to appreciate is to watch it with an open mind, by letting go of bigotry, conservatism and prejudice. Viewer discretion is advised.For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film blog "A Potpourri of Vestiges".

It's 1957 Vienna. Max (Dirk Bogarde) works at the front desk of a hotel at night. He's trying to hide the fact that he was in the Nazi SS with the help of other Nazis. Lucia Atherton (Charlotte Rampling) was a prisoner tormented by Max. She is haunted by her past and is shocked to discover Max working at her hotel. They fall back into their sadomasochistic relationship.I don't dismiss this movie for it perverse take on a Holocaust survivor. I don't think it's disturbing the collective image for those times. I do want better emotional clarity for the two characters. They are both playing their characters so quietly. Charlotte Rampling is amazing as always with her dead eyed smile but Dirk Bogarde lacks the intensity. Granted, he's playing a meek character as a hotel concierge. I just don't see him changing gears in his performance when they're alone together. I need him to shift to a higher gear. I also want their relationship to grow in intensity and devolve into depravity. Also the ending is a bit of a cheat. It needs to grow out of their relationship instead of coming from the other characters.

After a chance meeting at a hotel in 1957, a Holocaust survivor (Charlotte Rampling) and the Nazi officer (Dick Bogarde) who tortured her resume their sadomasochistic relationship.This film deals with the psychological condition known as Stockholm Syndrome in the most extreme way possible. It also borders on the offensive. Some would say it crosses over into the offensive...For example, film critic Roger Ebert calls it "as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering." Ebert is flat wrong. He can take the moral high ground, but this is the same guy who wrote "Beyond Valley of the Dolls"...

Imagine you live in Germany. Only a decade has passed since the end of WWII. The Cold War is in full swing and your country is separated by east and west. Infrastructure is back to normal but the scars inflicted by the war have only begun to heal. You were an SS officer who used to have a job that was unpleasant, yet in your mind necessary. Now you're a lowly night porter for a swanky hotel in West Berlin.Thus starts the story of Maximilian Aldorfer (Dirk Bogarde) a man who lurks in the shadows along with a small cabal of surviving Nazis. They quietly meet to conduct "trials" to conceal any inkling of their past before the authorities find out, going so far as to kill possible witnesses. Max's life is unassuming and guilt-ridden; "I want to live like a church mouse" he says. That is until the arrival of Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), a former concentration camp prisoner whom he had a sadomasochistic relationship with and was her pseudo-protector. They recognize each other right away and the question becomes what will they do about it? The movie devolves from its tension inducing premise to a sensationalistic exploitation film. Don't get me wrong its leaps and bounds above Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975) but the intention is artistically the same and the fact that director Liliana Cavani tries to claw for deeper meanings beyond its trashy premise makes the film more manipulative than engrossing. There are references to the book of Mark and John the Baptist, a near naked ballet sequence of Mozart's Die Zauberflote and comparisons between Pelleas and Melisande all of which amount to a bucket of filth. It a film that attempts cultural literacy but makes the fatal mistake of being alienating, unpleasant and ultimately wearisome to watch.The Night Porter (1974) is not so much a movie as it is a forceful invitation into the minds of two severely damaged people. As the relationship between Max and Lucia turn into a despairing echo of what it used to be we see the extent of Lucia's Stockholm syndrome and the depths of Max's depravity. Yet what is forced upon us is the notion that this sordid love story 1: matters and 2: is tragic in a saccharine Romeo and Juliet kind of way.There is an uncomfortable, long-running juxtaposition between sadomasochism and Nazis. Perhaps it's because even today we equate Nazism with death, destruction and absolute authority. In some circles it's hard not to get aroused by staring death in the face (especially when it's carrying a whip). But while I'm sure this sexual predilection pre-dates The Night Porter, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) and The Producers (1967) I can't help but feel this kind of treatment makes light of the Nazis and their resoundingly negative contribution to world history. Perhaps instead of dressing up in black leather and swastikas it would be wise to downgrade to a Vichy Greatcoat and Kepi, you know, just in case a friend goes rummaging through your closet.Ultimately while the premise is intriguing and there are touches of artistic merit, The Night Porter is an insipid, opportunistic treatment of history. It makes menial attempts at making its characters believable and relatable but sequentially removes them from a realm of reality within the films final, grueling half hour. What should have been a movie about history, human frailty or lacking that credible love, became a kinky provocation offering little other than cheap thrills.http://www.theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com