This was a very controversial film when it first came out in 1974 and they're was a lot of backlash towards it in the same manner that accompanied all of Pier Paolo Pasolini's films. I never liked Pasolini but I did find this film much better. Certainly more interesting than some have said. Liliana Cavani does have a focus point to this story and even though its an old fashioned one, its surrounded in an unconventional manner. Dirk Bogarde is Max. The night porter in a seedy hotel who also happens to be a former SS officer. One day he notices a woman that is staying in his hotel and its a women that was his prisoner in a concentration camp and he had a sado-masochistic relationship with. Charlotte Rampling plays Lucia and at first she is stunned and wants to leave after seeing him but then she is unsure. One of the more remarkable scenes is when Max confronts Lucia and yells at her and slaps her asking why she had to pick his hotel. Lucia shows both hate and love in her reaction. It shows the viewer what kind of a strange but powerful bond was developed years earlier. Bogarde is terrific. His character is very neat and orderly and demonstrates his loyalty to the people staying at his hotel. Bogarde says so much without speaking and just using his fingers to run along edges of things. Ramplings beauty is needed in this film and her acting is also top notch. She does get very quiet towards the end but she has always been a brave actress and its needed here. Another scene that stands out is when she is a teenager in the concentration camp and in a skimpy leather Nazi uniform she performs Like Marlene Dietrich as Lola. ****SPOILER ALERT**** Later in the film other former SS officers learn of Max and a former prisoner and they want to get rid of her since she is a witness and Max refuses to give her up. Both of them are targeted and they hole up in an apartment. Cavani doesn't seem to care about how these two found each other or the circumstances, she does though want to show that despite all the things that are going on nothing will separate them again. The last scene in the film shows this. They are dressed exactly the way when they first met. She in a dress for young girls and he in his Nazi uniform. Cavani does show some kinky and disturbing images but at the core of this film is just an unconventional love story. Its certainly worth a look.
Review of The Night Porter
