Director: Liliana Cavani Publisher: CultFilms Price: £16.50 Released: Out Now
Originally released in 1974, The Night Porter is a controversial examination of Nazism intended to shock and provoke. Dismissed at the time, critic Roger Ebert stated that the film was “a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering”, while The New York Times declared: “Let us now consider a piece of junk.” Yet, like the past that haunts its narrative, the film refuses to fade away. Now, The Night Porter has been the subject of a lavish 4K restoration by CultFilms, supervised by director Liliana Cavani herself.
The film follows Max (Dirk Bogarde), a Nazi hiding in 1950s Vienna and working as the night porter in a hotel. Desperate to move on from the war, he’s a member of a group of ex-Nazis who ruthlessly seek out and destroy any evidence of their atrocities. However, conflicts arise when he re-encounters Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), who was a wartime prisoner of Max, and the two begin a sadomasochistic relationship.