The Night Porter Blu-ray Review

28th Aug 2012

Here we have the latest classic movie being dusted off and given the Hi-Def treatment. Liliana Cavani’s controversial and challenging movie get’s a UK Blu-Ray release, and sports a decent 1080p transfer/restoration, as well as full DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio. Let’s take a look.

Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling star in this controversial, and thought provoking classic. It’s a tale of Nazi decadence, transgressive cruelty, dysfunctional love, and lingering Third Reich power. Set in 1957 Vienna; Lucia (Rampling), is a young World War II concentration camp survivor (it’s not clear if she is meant to be Jewish or not). While visiting the Austrian city with her husband, she happens upon Max; the Nazi officer she had ‘known’ during her internment at the camp, now working as the night porter of the hotel she’s staying in. It turns out that, during their time at the camp; Max and Lucia had conducted (at his instigation), a rather dangerous, co-dependent, and very sadomasochistic relationship, to which they both became hopelessly addicted. Fun ensues!

Even though this film is almost forty years old; I’m not going to unnecessarily spoil the story for those who’ve not seen it, by going in to too much detail, and commentary. After all, this is not a retrospective piece. Suffice to say; after the initial shock of seeing Max again in the hotel, Lucia is more than a little dazed and confused, seemingly not knowing how to deal with the situation. Max begins obsessively shading her until a confrontation is inevitable. Indeed, things do come to a head, and rather unexpectedly (if you’ve not seen the film before), the pair immediately re-kindle their crazy dynamic once again.

Complicating matters is that Max (being a prominent ex-Nazi, hiding in plain view), is in the process of preparing for a seemingly inevitable war trial. By which I mean, he is involved with various still extant (and powerfully connected), Nazi operatives. These men are tasked with the job of ‘cleaning’ Max’s background; clearing any and all evidence that may exist to prosecute Nazi figures like him. Unfortunately, they are already aware of a certain female ‘witness’ (which of course is Lucia). To them, she is nothing but a threat; someone who could testify against Max. In this sense, Max’s ‘love’ and the dynamic that exists between him and Lucia, at the very least causes a very serious conflict of interests. Of course, once the operatives know about her, Lucia’s life is in great danger and the net begins to close in. This all provides the backdrop for the couple’s continuing sadomasochistic interactions, and their eventual plight to escape Vienna.

The story is told initially using frequent flashbacks to the concentration camp, and these scenes show the humiliation, and degradation of the prisoners, as well as the decadent, hedonistic, and perverse indulgences of the Nazi elite. All this works as backdrop for the deeper, evolving nature of Max and Lucia’s dysfunctional bond. He is naturally the ring leader, and there is a sense that he is at once both corrupting her, and setting free her own inner perversions.

Bogarde was 53 when filming, and heading towards the latter end of his long and illustrious career, much kudos for taking on what at the time was undoubtedly a controversial role, and one his agent might have tried in vain to dissuade him from pursuing. His performance is nonetheless elegant and subtle, his character is a man who is unrepentant for his actions, but desiring of a peaceful and unobtrusive existence. His menace and resolve are obvious, as is his capacity for violence, and brutality; yet he is cultured, slight, and quite unassuming. You just ‘know’ that he’s the real deal. Rampling must also be commended for taking on the role of Lucia. I would imagine the nudity would not have bothered her, but the subject matter was, and still is edgy. She essentially plays two roles, that of Lucia now, and Lucia then. With her brutal short hair, and no makeup; she manages to convey a certain startled innocence in the camp scenes; a sense of curiosity, numbness and terror at the bizarre and awful reality befalling her there, but we also sense just a little element of perverse attraction to the situation, particularly as things develops with Max. Conversely, the Lucia of 12 years later is more jaded, and worldly wise, but seemingly unfulfilled, almost marking time. Rampling uses her striking feline beauty to full effect here. Add in the lustrous, long auburn hair and the difference between the two Lucia’s is startling. Cavani employs one or two clever cuts between time periods using Rampling’s arrestingly differing looks to great effect.

The film is well made, and features a tight, but spacious, intelligent script and flawless performances from the leads. Some of he best interplays between Bogarde and Rampling are almost completely without dialogue, which is impressive. Some of the supporting cast is a little more hit and miss, but the obvious dubbing going on here and there could be a big contributor to that. I like the direction and cinematography, and even the Dutch angles seem relevant, and appropriate. I think it would be remiss of me if I were to fail to mention the fact that, despite it’s undoubted power and brave subject matter; this movie is of another age, and does not seek to bombard the viewer with example after example of ever nastier and weirder behaviours and perversions. No, here the pacing is sedate, the colours muted, the sound is soft and spacious. There is ample breathing room, and our couple manage to convey the absolute corrosive nature of their actions without those actions ever being over the top, brash or violent in the way that they undoubtedly would be portrayed nowadays. It’s a very subtly disturbing vista that is laid out before us, and all the better for it.

I really like the current fashion for the restoration, and re-release of older movies like this on Blu-Ray. The enhanced format has given a new lease of life for many classic movies (with a small ‘c’), and is something of a shot of steroids to the idea of attracting a new (possibly) younger audience too. An audience who, quite likely won’t have seen films like this previously. The idea of a nice, freshly packaged, up to the minute Blu-Ray release, influencing young adults interested in movies (this is deservedly still an 18 remember), to watch and appreciate films that do not star Kristen Stewart or Daniel Radcliffe, must be a good thing (no condescension intended). Of course, in terms of these movies migrating to Blu-Ray; the carrots and sticks are purely corporate i.e. profit driven, which could (and does) often lead to sub-par transfers to the Blu-Ray format. It can sometimes be a lottery in terms of the quality of a Blu presentation. Not this one though, as; these considerations aside, I would say that overall, this Hi-Def edition of The Night Porter scores very well in terms of baseline picture and sound quality. It’s not Blade Runner (in the sense of a loving frame by frame restoration), but it’s clean, and looks the best it ever has I’m sure. Only the darks and blacks suffer a little ‘greyness’ and noise.

In terms of the overall Blu package, there is really only one thing that grates with The Night Porter, and that is what seems to be a complete lack of any special features on it at all. In my opinion, bonus/special features should really be standard issue these days, and for a package like this to come in plain vanilla only, is something that in 2012 seems disappointing, and behind the curve. I for one, would love to have heard a yak track with Cavani and Rampling, and some in depth ‘making of’ stuff as well. Alas, it was not to be, and we will just have to be happy with the film only, at least for now.