The Night Porter (1974)

The Night Porter was a great educator for me, in terms of understanding the dynamics of a sado-masochistic relationship.  I love love love Secretary and that's a good foundation in figuring out the appeal but this film more intermediate. Not more extreme, which is strange to say considering it's about a Nazi and his concentration camp muse but The Night Porter is not quite as broad-more pronounced. In essence- this is the story of Max, a hotel manager in 1957  trying to keep his head down after the war, haunted by his past. His existence changes when the young girl, Lucia he was infatuated with, happens to stay in his hotel in Venice. As you do.  They are almost coma-stricken by this revelation, having to remember their horrific past. Not that it was particularly horrific at the time for Max; if anything it was probably the best time of his life. Lucia certainly not so much. Her appearance in flashback is comparable to a chemical-lab rabbit with her pale complexion and sickly red hair. As much as they try to avoid each other since they're staying in such close quarters, Max decides to violently confront Lucia but they resolve to recede to the previous sub/dom relationship, we didn't yet know they had. At that point, i guessed at that point- their affair on a scale of successful German manufacturing would be Hindenburg-grade. Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling are just impeccable here. They both have real meaty complex roles to play here. Rampling has to completely strip herself of 'ego' to play the scenes where her whole presence has been stolen by the physical and mental torture of existing in this concentration camp.  Bogarde's character is literally one of the most conscienceless people portrayed on screen. Not because he is constantly doing reprehensible things but because he shows no remorse for the things he's done. He can't even refrain remorse. I mean you have to celebrate Liliana Cavani for her metered direction and script but Bogarde's denial about what he did or is doing to Lucia is hypnotic to the point, the audience begins to forget he's a man who's abused people, desecrated bodies. He plays it on the knife-edge of 'humanity'-Max is a human character who can be completely inhuman. We're aware he's possessive of Lucia but only in the sense, she is his possession. I don't know if this is based on anything in reality but they have this device, where all the former Nazis have a mock trial, to exercise the things they've done as a therapy of sorts. I'm fascinated by the thought process that realised that these people would need to confess the horrendous things they've done or that they would want to. If i have any issues with the film, it's that it's kinda too long and the 1st hour floats around before it decides what it wants to do. I guess what I'm saying is the 1st half could be condensed into 30mins but The Night Porter is a very striking film like this NSFpretty-much-any-situation-you'd-have to-explain-yourself fantasy scene- Lot of might think 'this is what you call fuckery, 'Black Swan' not your petty body-horror shit'... I watched The Night Porter (1974) on LoveFilm Player. My 2011 in Movies will return with Blue Valentine (2010)...