296: The Night Porter

[00:00:00] Chapter 9, Foreign Films. Let's get into The Night Porter from 1974. This one is directed by Liliana Cavani, stars Dirk Bogarty, Charlotte Rampling, Felipe Leroy, not a lot of other big names and the synopsis is a concentration camp survivor rekindles her sadomasochistic relationship with her lover, a former SS

[00:00:29] officer now working as a night porter at a Vienna hotel but his former Nazi associates begin stalking them. So I didn't know if you don't know there's this very weird subsection of cinema called Nazi exploitation or Nazi

[00:00:48] exploitation films where there are twists on I guess what a Nazi can be in terms of fetishizing them and the look and the uniforms and the treatment all those things so it's pretty darn disturbing and not one that I or really

[00:01:06] anyone should seek out necessarily. I saw this one back in college we watched as part of a film class and I've seen bits and pieces of the lesser-known ones over the years and this is considered to be the, to my understanding at least, the most

[00:01:20] artistic of that exploitation subgenre because I guess in the terms of the direction, the story itself, some of the ideas it's the most elevated in terms of quality but nevertheless not one for everyone it's so creepy and weird to

[00:01:38] think about because the woman in this had a pretty sadistic relationship with this SS officer in a concentration camp but at the same time he served as a protector of her of sorts during that time and then they parted ways and she

[00:01:56] was living her own life and she runs into him again at this hotel and then there's a few back-and-forth moments in there together once again so it's very weird considering you can imagine being a concentration camp prisoner and then

[00:02:10] having this sort of relationship with one of the abusers you know it's almost like a Stockholm syndrome sort of thing but very elevated so weird and one that even in terms of the movie I don't know if it's a hot take or not I appreciate

[00:02:25] them trying to push the boundaries of what a taboo relationship can be in a movie I appreciate that but the movie itself it's alright I do find it to be pretty slow at times pretty dragged out I think the second half really drags

[00:02:43] I'm engaged for the first maybe 45-50 minutes where they run into each other and there's the mystery and unspoken I guess flirtations between them but I feel like once they actually get together it's just not that interesting

[00:02:59] I think the ending moments are good and spoilers here because it's like 50 years old but the ending sequence where they're pulled up in this apartment together and then they end up getting killed at the end that works but I feel

[00:03:12] like by the end I'm ready for it to be over so the movie I like it overall there are some really weird bizarre moments like the ballet sequence with the man in the concentration camp who's almost naked and he's doing ballet for

[00:03:28] these SS officers and then the one that's probably considered to be the most iconic is the one where back in the concentration camp in a flashback Charlotte Rampling's character is singing the Marlena Dietrich song semi

[00:03:42] nude mostly nude to a group of officers Nazi officers in the pub of sorts that's such a strange visual and concept but at least in some ways it's pushing the boundaries not say you have to like it or enjoy it but it is ambitious in that

[00:03:58] sense so the reputation of the movie almost similar to what I was talking about with the graduate on chapter 7 I like it to an extent but I think that Wow concept of the movie overshadows its overall quality because I've seen it

[00:04:15] twice now once in college and then then once just in the last couple of weeks and it it's hard to get into it's pretty dry all considering what the story is and there's not really all that much being said I think at least in terms of

[00:04:32] what I was gathering on two watches the performances are alright I like Charlotte Rampling a lot she's gone on to be in a lot of American films over the years but if you are interested in looking at the weird corners of cinema

[00:04:47] it's worth a watch I don't think you're gonna love it I don't know many people who absolutely love the movie it is a standout one in terms of what the story is and the concept but I think it's in some ways overrated and unless you're

[00:05:02] doing what I was just saying in terms of looking at the corners of cinema I don't know if I would seek it out if are you otherwise if you're studying film history sure give it a look but other than that I would steer clear

[00:05:18] so that one is a three and a half out of five