The Night Porter

in a sick and perverse way i was looking forward to watching this film. it sounded like a european art house film in the vein of some many grindhouse sleaze pictures. nazi's, sex, nudity, sick content... boy was i disappointed. i watched this a while back and i really can't remember much other than the fact that it was disappointing and really not what i had hoped for. i guess it was well made and well acted but i just didn't find it very interesting and in the end i would much rather watch something like ilsa: she wolf of the ss (and i never ever thought i would say that). 69/100 read more

you can easily see why lars von trier would drool all over this film. while it certainly is good, i find the berlin affair, another cavani film shot 11 years later, much more to my liking. its simply because id much rather watch pure, compulsive passion dominate and devastate individuals (a la the bitter tears of petra von kant) than see it be bogged down by such social matters as guilt and shame over a nazi past. but its clear that cavanis primary goal with this film was to examine the complex psychological effects that nazism has had on a person, which she does exceedingly well. well, read more