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As Good As It Gets

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

A former Nazi SS officer crosses paths again with a former concentration camp prisoner who he had an affair with. But a group of other former Nazis who are determined to eliminate any incriminating evidence or indeed people who might expose their past deeds know about this woman who they see as posing a real threat to them.Obviously this was very controversial when it was released with many film critics calling it trash and exploitative. But it's neither of these. It feels dignified, rich and not just made to be sensationalistic and play on 42nd Street's Deuce.The photography is breathtaking with the locations almost becoming another character of the film. Both Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling as amazing in the lead roles and their interactions crackle with electricity. The film pulls no punches in the nature of their relationship with elements of sadomasochism being played out. This is certainly a brave film but all the more brilliant because of it. Critics and audiences alike eventually came round to discovering the film's genius premise and vision. I'm so glad this has been released by The Criterion Collection- the final validation for a film that was clearly ahead of it's time.

1957, Vienna. Morose and reserved ex-Nazi Max (superbly played with tremendous restraint by Dirk Bogarde) keeps a low profile by working as a night porter at a posh hotel. Max by chance gets reunited with concentration camp survivor Lucia (a very strong and fearless performance by Charlotte Rampling) and resumes the dangerous sadomasochistic affair that they started back in the 1940's.Director Liliana Cavani relates the absorbing story at a hypnotically languid pace, ably crafts a hauntingly bleak and melancholy tone, explores the severe emotional and psychological damaged wrought by the Third Reich with unflinching candor and directness, and follows the doomed romance between the deeply troubled main characters to its inevitably grim and tragic conclusion. Most importantly, although the twisted premise skirts with exploitation, Cavani's elegant style prevents the plot from degenerating into tasteless sleazy trash. Bogarde and Rampling do sterling work in their demanding roles; they receive sturdy support from Philippe Leroy as the sinister Klaus, Gabriele Ferzetti as the snoopy Hans, Isa Miranda as the dissipated Countess Stein, and Amedeo Amodio as junkie dancer Bert. The bold and incisive script by Cavani and Italo Moscati blurs the lines between love and hate as well as pain and pleasure with genuinely unsettling, yet still provocative results. Alfio Contini's sumptuous cinematography and the lovely classical music score by Daniele Paris further enhance the overall supremely classy decadence. A deliciously dark, daring, and deviant gem.

*WARNING!* - Don't let this DVD's tantalizingly provocative cover art of a young Charlotte Rampling in leatherette, Nazi gear fool you - 'Cause, believe me, when it comes to the likes of kink and depravity (with a bitter slice of S&M thrown in for good measure), The Night Porter plays it way too safe, and, unfortunately, doesn't deliver the wallop that it most certainly should have.Yes. This train wreck (of a Romeo & Juliet story) did contain some interesting and intriguing moments, but, overall, its unconventional storyline was set (throughout its entire 2-hour running time) at a very low simmer and never once did it reach the boiling point, as far as I'm concerned.Perhaps, now 40 years later, The Night Porter is about due for a remake.... And, in this mighty grim day and age (of insatiable tastes for unbridled violence and cruelty) that we now live in - I'm sure there's bound to be some "no-holds-barred" director out there who's capable of wetting the whistles of all those boys and girls across the nation, and beyond, who crave it dished up totally rough and raunchy, Nazi-style.

After a chance meeting at a hotel in 1957, a Holocaust survivor (Charlotte Rampling) and the Nazi officer (Dick Bogarde) who tortured her resume their sadomasochistic relationship.This film deals with the psychological condition known as Stockholm Syndrome in the most extreme way possible. It also borders on the offensive. Some would say it crosses over into the offensive...For example, film critic Roger Ebert calls it "as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering." Ebert is flat wrong. He can take the moral high ground, but this is the same guy who wrote "Beyond Valley of the Dolls"...