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Nabaza.net-The MarketPlace - The Night Porter
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $19.95
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Homevision
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling, Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti, Giuseppe Addobbati
Directed By: Liliana Cavani
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780780020405
Format: Color
ISBN: 0780020405
Label: Homevision
Manufacturer: Homevision
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Homevision
Release Date: 2000-06-20
Running Time: 118
Studio: Homevision
Theatrical Release Date: 1974-10-01
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Editorial Reviews:
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After World War II, writer-director Liliana Cavani interviewed a Nazi-concentration camp survivor who had been involved in a sadomasochistic relationship with a brutal guard. That interview was the inspiration for this perverse and explicit cult classic
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Examing evil, embracing cruelty
Comment: Examining the very essence of evil, grappling with the demons attached to memory. The Night Porter is a sordid tale of a concentration camp survivor coming face to face with her devastating past--her ex-torturer/lover. The lurid, graphic images simmer and boil over in her mind, scalding the fragments of her sexual psyche.
This story locks you in, you become trapped and pressurized with such an overwhelming intensity. The couple soon recreate their sadomasochistic relationship as you witness the lingering, destructive nature of submission. This strange retrogression definitely brings startling questions--WHY?!??! Why plunge back into this world of hell? How does something so horrifying transform into something you crave, or even become dependent of? Few of us have ever experienced such an overwhelming atrocity, the effects of such a catastrophe are mind-boggling.
I know one thing--70's CINEMA RULES!!!! That was a decade when extremely disturbing topics were tackled. One warning though, this cover is misleading. This is not some sleazy sexploitation stunt, or even a naziploitation flick. It does have some extreme elements, but it's also very operatic and artistic. It's not crammed with sex and action, so some might get bored. I found it a startling character study, not to mention a cultural study as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting and sad in a way...
Comment: So "The Night Porter" is a film of psychology, violence, and past.
The story is about a man working in a hotel as a night porter in 1957. He is working with some men from WWII about trying to clear his past as an SS doctor working on horrible acts during the war, so that he can move on with his life.
While he is at work one night, a woman comes into the hotel that he recognizes as one of his internment camp victims that he created a sadomasochistic love affair with. She is torn on what she wants to do when she sees him, but eventually leaves her husband and moves in with the porter only to reignite their love affair.
This is a movie of some subtlety and a little slow-going. Overall, I enjoyed the film and the aspects of ones past and mentalities.
This is not a film for everyone, I think a lot of people would find it boring, but I enjoyed it overall. It is not as sexy as it may sound or look by the cover, but still a decent flick.
Plus, if you want to own this movie, Criterion is the only way to go. The only issue is that thhe disc did not have anything in the way of special features. I was a little disappointed about that.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: I had pretty high expectations for The Night Porter. The reviews are good and the premise seemed interesting. I often enjoy daring and provocative films, so I gave it a shot. Once it started, I kept waiting for it to develop and it never did. I kept saying to myself, `Finally, now we're getting somewhere...oh wait, never mind.' It just dragged on with little or no purpose. And I felt like it was edited by an 8th grade audio-visual club. The dubbing was bad, the writing/acting was labored and the direction was uninspired. What few points the film does score are earned by its relatively creative and esoteric premise. And since there weren't any other entrants in the 1974 `Post-War Era Sadomasochistic Nazi Film Festival', The Night Porter won first prize. But I think the main reason that this film has its cult status, or any following whatsoever, is good advertising. The DVD cover is intriguing, and honestly the cover is better than the film itself. Save yourself the time and money and rent it, or try another film. Schindler's List has some similar themes, mainly with Ralph Fiennes' character, although it is a far superior film of a different overall genre. As a last resort, I guess you could watch Triumph of the Will while sitting on a tack and achieve a comparable level of sadomasochistic Nazism. To each his own.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Like no other film I've seen
Comment: Being 21-years-old at the time of this review, I had never seen many of the decadent films to come out of Europe during the 1970s, let alone any that dealt with the Nazi Party or The Holocaust. After a good deal of reading online, I ordered "The Night Porter" from Amazon, and decided to give it a try.
Needless to say, I've been haunted for days.
Lucia (Charlotte Rampling in an outstanding performance) arrives in 1957 Vienna, along with her composer husband. A Holocaust survivor who has gone on to live quite a comfortable life, her picture-perfect existence is shattered when she encounters Max (Dirk Bogarde), her ex-Nazi captor, tormentor and lover, whom she had an affair with for many years.
Max is hiding out in Vienna, working as a night porter in the hotel and hoping to avoid standing trial for his crimes. A member of a kind of support group for fellow nazis, he and his comrades seekt to eliminate any witnesses who could send them to prison -- or even death. Agonized over his love for Lucia and the loyalty to his friends, Max decides to go into hiding, where the sadistic/masochistic nature of his past affair begins to resurface.
Never before had I seen a film quite so dark, so decadent, so psychologically penetrating. Rampling in particular is as beautiful as she is heartbreaking; for only someone who was truly mentally ill would continue a relationship as violent as the one she shared. Bogarde fairs equally as well, portraying Max's feelings of anger and love with an eerie authenticity.
The most disturbing part of the movie is that we the audience *know* there cannot be a happy ending; that disaster looms at any moment and that these two people have been traumatized (perhaps beyond repair) by the events of WWII. In my opinion, this is what made "The Night Porter" so realistic -- by showing that the after effects of the Holocaust can and will be felt for decades after the war ended. Perhaps even today.
In sum, if you are in the mood to watch a film that portrays violence and sex as one of the same, withouth the requisite happy ending, than "The Night Porter" may very well be for you. While the film doesn't go into much detail about the Nazi party speciifically, it builds such an aura of tension and doom that it doesn't even matter. This may not be the happiest film to ever be made, but it remains among the most memorable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Some movies better not be rewatched.
Comment:
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
When I first saw Liliana Cavani's controversial film about sadomasochistic love affair between former Nazi officer Max (Dirk Bogard) and a concentration camp survivor Lucia (Charlotte Rampling)whom he used to abuse sexually and physically during the WWII, it had a shock value. I saw it in Moscow in the middle of 80s, and when our friends brought the tape to watch I thought it was a screen adaptation of the Irwin Shaw's novel "Nightwork" which is a completely different story (both were translated to Russian as "The Night Porter" - hence the confusion). As you can see, the film had a triple-shocking value for me - first, I expected to see a different movie; second and third, for its dark and disturbing subject matter and for the breaking all kinds of taboos in the way Cavani had explored it.
I remember that I was very impressed by Cavani's use of flashbacks, music, and her classy cinematography. Both leads were very good as two people who had met at the most horrifying circumstances but according to the writer-director were not able to forget the disturbing relationship and were willing to give anything just to be able to carry on with it. It was a first time I saw Charlotte Rampling and she became one of my favorite actresses.
I saw it again couple of weeks ago and I have to admit that without its original shock value it did not impress me at all. The plot does not seem that shocking, the story does not make much sense. Some of the dialog is just ridiculous. For example, Max confesses to his old friend, Countess Stein ( who knows everything about his past) after Lucia had entered his hotel and his life:
"Max: I found her. I found my little girl.
Countess: Such a romantic story.
Max: It is not a romantic story, it is a biblical story."
The second part of the movie when the couple try to hide in Max's apartment and the other Nazi wait outside for days for them to come out is just bad, IMO. The final scene is plausible and makes sense - there could be never a happy ending to the story like that but, alas, it took too long for the ending to come - I actually could not wait for somebody to finally take the unfortunate couple out of their misery and I was grateful when it happened - not a good sign for the movie where you should sympathize with the main characters.
I am not sure if the movie is one of "Nazi chic" flicks or a serious and honest even if flawed exploration of the very dark depths of human soul. It sure has the characteristics of both.
2.5/5
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