THE NIGHT PORTER
Blu-ray. Anchor Bay.

If any film could be said to sum up the difference between 1970s cinema and everything that came before and after, then The Night Porter would be a good contender. A head-on collision between arthouse and mainstream cinema, featuring two big name stars in the sort of roles that most Hollywood performers would run a mile from today, and with a taboo-shattering central theme, this is very much a film that could only have emerged in that decade.

It’s also one of a handful of films – beginning with the sleazy Love Camp 7 and also encompassing Ilsa She Wolf of the SS and Salon Kitty – that helped spawn one of the most contentious and short-lives exploitation sub-genres, the ‘naziploitation’ film that only lasted for a couple of years in the middle of the decade – and again shows what a different world it was back then. The further we get from World War 2, the more sensitive people seem to be about Nazi imagery, and you can’t imagine any films – be they sleazy soft porn or serious minded arthouse films like this – daring to explore the sexual decadence and fetishism involved in Nazi imagery.

Of all the films loosely connected in this sub-genre, The Night Porter is by far the most respectable - and by far the best. It’s also, arguably, misrepresented by its public image. If you see a still from this film – or you see a VHS, DVD or Blu-ray sleeve – you’d be forgiven for imagining that the film is awash with eroticised Nazi imagery. That’s not actually true. It’s notable that most of the striking, provocative and, for many, outrageous imagery you’ll see from this film is all taken from a single scene – an admittedly powerful, unforgettable and iconic moment.

In fact, The Night Porter is a story of sexual obsession and madness – the collision of two damaged people who come together in the most extreme of circumstances. Dirk Bogarde is Max, the SS officer at a concentration camp who becomes obsessed with prisoner Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), who he plucks from the prisoners to become his lover – a role that she finally begins to embrace, becoming part of the Nazi machine and arguably complicit in their crimes.

Years later, Max is working as a hotel porter and meeting with fellow ex-Nazis to plan a defence / cover-up for any war crimes trials that might happen. When Lucia and her classical conductor husband check into the hotel, the past is brought back for both of them, and soon they are rekindling their affair. As Max’s former colleagues try to convince him to give her up (as a witness, she is of great danger to them), the pair lock themselves away in a more and more desperate attempt to block out the outside world.

This is an astonishing film, with genuinely breathtaking performances from Bogarde and Rampling – the latter showing remarkable bravery is a genuinely difficult role. It’s deeply uncomfortable viewing, even for viewers used to seeing cinematic taboos challenged, and it asks some uncomfortable questions about obsession, love, madness, victimhood and guilt. Director Liliana Cavani give the film a cold, distant feel and manages to make the central characters seem sympathetic. As we’ve seen in countless conflicts since WW2, war can turn even the most decent of people into monsters, and the film humanises its characters without excusing their actions.

This is, certainly, a bleak tale. But it’s presented in a highly approachable manner, subject matter aside, resulting in a compelling tragedy that is unlike anything else you might see. Clearly not for all tastes, The Night Porter is, nevertheless, a masterpiece that will haunt you for a long time after you see it.

DAVID FLINT

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