The Film That Shocked The 70's: THE NIGHT PORTER w/ Charlotte Rampling
He was an SS officer in a Second World War camp, and she his select prisoner, his “little girl”. That power dynamic still exists 12 years after the war!
Watch THE NIGHT PORTER by clicking this link!
Until STAR WARS came along the 1960’s and 70’s were a time for experimentation and adult subject matter in films. CHINATOWN, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, TARGETS, TAXI DRIVER, CABARET and so many more films that today probably would not be allowed to be made. STAR WARS showed teenagers were a real market, and everything else was dropped to cater to that market. The nuance of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW gave way to PORKY’S. Yet one film stood out from all the films of the period, THE NIGHT PORTER which still leaves the audience stunned. Here is the trailer:
The first time I saw Charlotte Rampling in a film the spell was cast. It wasn't just her body, her face, her eyes. Her acting choices. All that was impressive. She seemed to have an aura of decadence. She tantalized with an openness, a look and frankness that seemed to say "If you want to drive this car, we will go all the way. Past every boundary". Was it my fantasy? It turned out, I nailed it. Years later she would admit she had been in a live in relationship for years- with 2 men. Unheard of at the time and still shocking today, she was adored by 2 men at the same time. This was beyond any fantasy I had about her!
She and Dirk Bogarde carry the film and frankly without them this film would be unwatchable. The story of two people who fall in love in a concentration camp, one the inmate and one an SS officer seems as in bad taste as the Jerry Lewis uncompleted film THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED but you believe so completely they did fall in love and still are that you become transfixed watching it.
Watch THE NIGHT PORTER by clicking here
“Rampling’s portrayal of Lucia, well it’s utterly remarkable considering the immense arc her character goes through: undernourished and scared prisoner, then survivor who knows how to play her captor’s affections, confused socialite and tragic lover.” - readysteadycut
The director and writer Liliana Cavani I can’t imagine being allowed to make this film today. The film was trashed by critics when it was released here but over time revealed layers the critics were too outraged to notice.
Watch THE NIGHT PORTER by clicking here
This is a documentary you can watch about Charlotte Rampling:
BEHIND THE PAYWALL: Luchino Visconti's The Damned also starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Global Psychotronic Film Society to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.