Fresh
A strange, brooding tale.
Variety Staff, Variety
The Night Porter
The Most Controversial Picture of Our Time!
1974 · 1h 58m · R
Drama, Romance, War
Directed by
Liliana Cavani
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The Night Porter
Overview
A concentration camp survivor discovers her former torturer and lover working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. When the couple attempt to re-create their sadomasochistic relationship, his former SS comrades begin to stalk them.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
67%
Tomatometer
Rotten
With a little application and imagination I suppose one might read themes of political and philosophical import into this work, but Cavani's style remains stupidly literal and gaga.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Rotten
The movie's visual virtues are negated by infinite absurdities -- particularly by the sentimentality with which the director views this luckless couple.
Nora Sayre, New York Times
Rotten
The Night Porter is as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Rotten
Somewhere along the way, the film's handling of serious themes, and its attempts to examine the Nazi legacy in terms of repression and guilt, both sexual and political, get lost amid all the self-conscious decadence.
Time Out
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