THE NIGHT PORTER
The Night Porter produce a stream of hostility from both women's groups and Jewish organizations. The film was hailed as remarkable for its approach to a topic rarely discussed in film This is often called happily "transgressive'). and berated for the method of dealing with the topic
The film can be seen as falling ito three parts or acts; the first ends when Lucia (CharlotteRampling) decides to stay at the hotel with Max (Dirk Bogarde). The second act deals with the re-establishing of the relationship between the two and ends with the group of Nazis isolating Max and Lucia. the final act runs to the end of the film.
In the first act, Lucia reacts negatively to Max when she sees him again. In the second act she re=establishes her relationship with him and in the final act the two decide to die together.
There appear to be two sets of stories. One set deals with two events in different times: the involvement of Max with Lucia during the war in the camp, and the second is the relationship between the two after the war in Vienna.
The other pair stories occur simultaneously, one dealing with Max and Lucia's post war relationship and the other with the organization of Nazis who stage trials in order to find out what evidence may exist against each member that needs to be gotten rid of whether it be paper or witnesses.
While Max and Lucia re=establish their S/M relationship; the Nazi group continues playing at their trials which they claim make them feel guiltless when they are aquitted - in effect they have been "cleared" but also know it is unlikely that thyey will ever be proven guilty of anything. Max alone seems to have feelings of remorse and talks about his avoiding of daylight when his shame is more evident.
Max tries to live a life in which he performs all sorts of tasks to help the people at the hotel not only supplying them with newspapers, but procuring sex partners for them and working the spotlight for one of the men who dances and is interested in Max.
The film has desaturated color throughout, although much more so in the flashback scenes to the concentration camp. the opening scene under the titles plays in rain under a gray sky.
The first scene to appear after the title sequence shows a cleaner at the hotel straightening his uniform - a red vest and green apron (which we will see several times on men in the film).
We also see Maz' porter's uniform with the insignia on the lapels. He mentions to the cleaner that he needs to wear the jacket when he replaces the porter for an hour.
Finally Max dons his SS uniform at the end of the film those bringing the utiform fetish to its fulfillment by increasing in power levels (cleaner to porter to SS officer).
Lucia goes out and buys a "girls" dress which is much like the one that Max dressed her in at the camp. It is a kind of uniform for her as well.
Max' relationship with Lucia, while somewhat brutal, is also caring. He refuses to her as "his little girl" (a term used in the camp as well). He wants to take care of her and protect, and in effect presents the danger which he can control and therefore protect her from. He nurses the cut on her arm in the camp for example. When the real danger finally appears from the Nazi officer group, he tries to protect her by killing Mario, but ultimately fails and the two die together. the relatiohsip between sex and death is one that is common and has been seen in films like Anatomy of a Murder, Lolita, Last Tango in Paris and even the suicide in Glen or Glenda
One of the questions that has been raised about the film is whether or not the intensity of the relationship in the camp was such that nothing could really compare to it and so reviving it is the only options. The relationship is intense, dangerous and obsessive and these all tend to lead to death in the films.
Liliana Cavani
1974