The Night Porter
Short description
Liliana Cavani directed this Italian-French drama, which she also co-wrote with Amedeo Pagani and Italo Moscati. It follows a woman named Lucia who, while staying at an elegant Viennese hotel in 1957 with her husband, recognizes the night porter as Max, a former SS officer. Their shared history reaches back to her imprisonment in a concentration camp, where he used her as a sexual object in a sadomasochistic relationship. The encounter revives the pull between them, and as the two resume their bond, Max's old SS circle, which includes men who have quietly rebuilt their lives and protect one another, begins to close in on the pair.
The film stars Dirk Bogarde as Max and Charlotte Rampling as Lucia, with Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti, Giuseppe Addobbati and Isa Miranda among the credited cast of twenty-two. It was Cavani's second feature, coming after The Year of the Cannibals in 1969, and it precedes Francesco, Ripley's Game and The Order of Time. The Night Porter runs 118 minutes and blends drama, romance and war. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.6 from around 16,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.7 from roughly 400 votes, and a critics' rating of 5.9 from 33 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In Italy, the persecution of the film ended only after the verdict of the Supreme Court in Milan: "The Night Porter" is a work of art, and no one under any circumstances has the right to ban it.
- In New York, the film's premiere was staged in the style of a sadomasochistic orgy. At the banquet, tables were covered with black vinyl film, chains were hung on chairs, black candles were lit, and matches were laid out in wrappers made of artificial leather with images of boots and whips.
- The scene where Charlotte Rampling's heroine dances naked in front of a German officer was included in the 100 best scenes in world cinema. It was filmed in one take.
- The film crew was very concerned about the possible anger of the residents of Vienna, who might react negatively to Dirk Bogarde's Nazi uniform. But in the end, all fears proved unfounded. When Bogarde, as he later recalled, stepped onto the street "with trepidation and fear" in a uniform with a swastika, the crowd of onlookers... applauded loudly. And someone even shouted: "Heil!"
- The first scene filmed for the movie was the one where Charlotte Rampling dances topless.
- Dirk Bogarde agreed to appear on the condition that Liliana Cavani rewrite the script. Consequently, one plotline and most of the characters' conversations about politics were cut from the original version. Furthermore, during filming, Dirk Bogarde repeatedly shortened the lines for his character, Max. This always led to heated arguments with Liliana Cavani.
- As filming neared its end, producer Robert Gordon Edwards ran out of money. Production had to be suspended, and the crew and actors returned home. The fate of the film hung by a thread. The final part (location shooting in Vienna) was only completed a month later.
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