Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Micransix Crappy film

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

meathookcinema A former Nazi SS officer crosses paths again with a former concentration camp prisoner who he had an affair with. But a group of other former Nazis who are determined to eliminate any incriminating evidence or indeed people who might expose their past deeds know about this woman who they see as posing a real threat to them.Obviously this was very controversial when it was released with many film critics calling it trash and exploitative. But it's neither of these. It feels dignified, rich and not just made to be sensationalistic and play on 42nd Street's Deuce.The photography is breathtaking with the locations almost becoming another character of the film. Both Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling as amazing in the lead roles and their interactions crackle with electricity. The film pulls no punches in the nature of their relationship with elements of sadomasochism being played out. This is certainly a brave film but all the more brilliant because of it. Critics and audiences alike eventually came round to discovering the film's genius premise and vision. I'm so glad this has been released by The Criterion Collection- the final validation for a film that was clearly ahead of it's time.

Peter Hayes A former top Nazi hides out by being a night porter in a hotel, but is recognised by one of the very inmates he has abused, but rather than turn-him-in she decides to continue their abusive master-and-servant relationship.This is the kind of movie which I came to very cold and so much the better for it. Despite the passing of the years and the shocking things (real and fiction) that have passed before my eyes, this stays and haunts you. Might even have changed me a bit.(If only in the possibility of cinema.) Maybe the only film ever made which dares takes on damaged people and explore their lives without aiming for simple exploitation or entertainment. Hearing the testimony of real holocaust survivors should tell us one thing: We don't know how it would affect us.Nor do we know how people feel after trauma. Or what their reaction to extreme circumstances may be. Or even our own if we ever were in a concentration camp or raped. We guess, but we may be wrong.The acting here is superb. Leads Rampling and Bogart at the top of their game. Subtle and yet somehow believable in their reactions to each other.Sadly it has been marketed now as a "come and be shocked" ghost train ride with every twist and turn now public knowledge. It really spoils it, because the audience are being manipulated into the expected and then having their expectations reversed. Without it the power is diminished.This is a film from an era when film-makers were totally brave and fearless. Big name actors rarely took chances like this again. And you can see why.

zuhairvazir A wayward exploitation of the cinematic 'Nazi Evil' cliché, which prevailed throughout the seventies horror cinema; from mad doctors/scientists to jail guards with a penchant for bondage and puerile victims willingly giving themselves to the morbid fantasies of the script writer.The nonsensical screenplay of 'The Night Porter' pays homage to the latter and also adds to the distress of anti-porn activists by throwing in an uncomfortable-to- watch set piece.A holocaust victim suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome finds herself helplessly drawn to the impeccable and aching charms of a former tormentor and SS officer who has given himself to the succulent comfort of a non-significant existence after having basked in the degenerating excesses, which apparently the SS life offered.In hiding, we are shown, he has become a night porter at a hotel in post-war Vienna and prefers to live like a 'church mouse'. After their chance meeting both are ostensibly pulled into a dangerous game of lurid passion. A passion which is explored with more seriousness and insight in Star 80 (83).While Star 80 shows us the lecherous, conflicted and tragic demise of the American dream and destiny, The Night Porter simply wants us to swallow whole the idea of misplaced feelings and deviant sexual overplay as if it were a bonafide means to post trauma catharsis. If it weren't for the fervor in Cavani's operatic exploration, Charloette Rampling's off the rack and risqué performance and Bogarde's sullen yet decisive night porter the film would have been forgotten.

currierej This movies has been reviewed in depth (reading them inspired me to write this), I just wanted to add a small comment.When most people talk about the convoluted and twisted relationship of the main characters they seem to miss one point, their current positions.Max has gone from a man of great power, life and death by the wave of his hand, illustrated by his present to her at the dance. And she was a "dead" person, sent to a camp to die, kept alive by his simplest wish, the slightest misstep and she is dead.Now, years later he is a basic servant, reduced to hiding by night and waiting on other people. She has become rich and powerful, people wait on her.Other people mentioned the guilt felt by Holocaust survivors, and here she is knowing that not only did she survive, but she survived by not only collaborating with the enemy, but (possibly) enjoying herself while doing it. Imagine the guilt in that situation. Her return to his control is less of a S/M response and more of a guilt reflex, she cheated death in the arms of the enemy and guilt drives her back to suffer for her sins. He has a chance to return to his former glory, he regains control over her and by opposing his fellow Nazi's, he once again has control over not only her life, but his own.They return to their former roles out of guilt, the love and the sex are by-products, a way of reinforcing the return to their former roles.The Stockholm syndrome might have influenced her actions at the camp and therefore would have added to her guilt, but I think her reaction to meeting him again is driven more by the guilt of her past than a desire to relive it.They are driven by the guilt of their past actions, he deserved to die for what he did, she did not deserve to live while so many others died.By the way...I'm probably totally wrong in my assessment.Also by the way, I'm not a person obsessed by guilt, I just feel in reference to this movie it is an important addition to the plot.All that said, I liked the movie, I found it engrossing and was drawn into the story, others have mentioned how great the cinematography was, but I found that I was too interested in the story to notice (a sign of great cinematography).A movie that to really appreciate you must look past the story and into the dark soul of life.