Today's filmmaker for our female filmmakers series is VERY controversial. She is bold, daring, and she made one of the most polarizing films of the twentieth century: it's Liliana Cavani.
Liliana Cavani is originally from Carpi, Italy, where this writer and director grew up during World War II. She came up with other prominent 1970s Italian directors like Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Bellocchio, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Like them, she was daring when it came to showing sex on film...even when it was uncomfortable.
She graduated from college at Bologna University in 1960 where she had studied literature. Initially, she wanted to become an archeologist, but her love of cinema took over. She switched paths and went to film school in Rome to study documentary filmmaking, immediately making controversial films like the short flick L'evento.
The Night Porter is by far the film that Liliana is still best remembered for. This sick, twisted, BDSM-inspired war movie stars Dirk Bogarde as a former Nazi officer who is trying to live life like his war crimes never happened. He now works as a night porter (hey, that's the title) in a Viennese hotel. One of his customers happens to be Charlotte Rampling who used to be his Jewish sex slave in the camps. He tortured her, but his affection for her also kept her alive which is a really messed up scenario.
She is conflicted. She wants to turn him in, but the former prisoner decides to revive their sexual relationship - perhaps for a longer con. They have a sadomasochistic relationship that will make you feel all kinds of mixed emotions. It is a bleak film through and through, so don't watch the full film if you are hoping for a light-hearted film viewing. This is anything but!
If that sounds controversial now, it definitely was controversial then. In the United States, it was mostly panned with major critics Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert eviscerating it. However, the film was praised in Europe and t was considered groundbreaking in the ways it dared to explore psychological and sexual traumas brought on by war. That's interesting when you consider Europe was the stage for the war, but that's about all that I am qualified to say on that matter. The film IS unsettling - I even struggle to write about it. No matter what you think about it, there is no denying that this film was unique and Charlotte Rampling looked great in it.
The film is ultimately all about power. The former officer is now a lowly porter at the hotel. The concentration camp prisoner who was fighting for survival now has all of the power to turn him in. You spend the film wondering whether or not one of them will turn on the other or if they will get swept up in their sick sexual games. I won't spoil anything here, but I'll just say that nothing goes well!
Ripley's Game is a 2002 film that starred John Malkovich as a sophisticated guy with loose morals named Tom Ripley. He develops a scheme to get rich in which he would manipulate a sick painter into murdering his family for money. What's in it for Ripley? Money and...well, he likes it. He's a sick and twisted guy.
No, it's not the same film as The Talented Mr. Ripley which also took place in Italy and only came out a few years prior. But both movies tell different stories about the eccentric and sociopathic Tom Ripley. They are both based on novels written by Patricia Highsmith who wrote several thrillers about her character Tom Ripley. This particular novel was previously adapted in 1977 as the film The American Friend.
Chiara Caselli is Ripley's girlfriend who shows off her thong and she even has a quick nip slip.
She has continued directing for all kinds of things: film, TV, and even live theater with a couple of operas on her resume. There is no stopping this 89-year-old artist. Her films explore the effects of war on people, especially women, with The Berlin Affair and The Skin continuing some of the themes we saw in The Night Porter, but much more toned down. I love that she has continued to be bold even in her old age and that to this day there are few films like The Night Porter. She does deserve props for daring to make something like that! This woman has balls.
