The Night Porter

The Night Porter (Italian: Il portiere di notte) is a 1974 Italian erotic psychological drama film. Directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, the film stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and features Philippe Leroy and Gabriele Ferzetti. Its themes of sexual and sadomasochistic obsession have made the film controversial since its initial release, with critics being divided over the film's artistic value.

The Night Porter is widely considered to be a Nazisploitation film and a cult classic.

Plot

It is 1957, 12 years after World War II. Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, a former Nazi SS officer who had posed as a doctor in order to take sensational photographs in concentration camps, and Lucia Atherton, a Holocaust survivor, had an ambiguous sadomasochistic relationship. Flashbacks show Max tormenting Lucia, but also acting as her protector.

Lucia, now married to an American orchestra conductor, meets Max again by chance. 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. Max has an upcoming mock trial at the hands of the group for his war crimes. The group's leader, Hans Folger, accuses Max of wanting to live 'hidden away like a church mouse'. Max wishes to remain hidden, but he voices support for the group's activities. 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.

The Night Porter (1930 film)

The Night Porter is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Sewell Collins and starring Donald Calthrop, Trilby Clark and Gerald Rawlinson. The film was made by Gaumont British Picture Corporation, an affiliate of Gainsborough Pictures, at the Lime Grove Studios with sets designed by Andrew Mazzei. It was based on a popular music hall sketch by Fred Rome and Harry Wall depicting a honeymooning couple and the hotel night porter they encounter.

Cast

References

Bibliography

External links

The Night Porter at the Internet Movie Database