The Night Porter

Hearing the plot of Liliana Cavani's seminal "The Night Porter," now on Blu-ray sporting a revelatory new transfer via the Criterion Collection, can be misleading. It sounds more like a grindhouse-ready exploitation movie than it does the mournful contemplation Cavani has actually crafted. The titular porter is Max, a former Nazi officer hiding out in Italy. That is until Lucia, a woman he once tormented in the camps - and had a relationship with - walks into his place of business. They quickly pick up where they left off - until that's interrupted, by the appearence of a contract killer out to eliminate anyone who could out hidden Nazi's. Lucia's next on the list.

Eliding the sensationalism inherent in the plot, Cavani gives the film over to lead actress Charlotte Rampling, whose searingly immediate portrait as Lucia lends the film an anguish that the melodrama alone can never locate. Cavani regularly places her in the center of frames filled with a putrid green - it's as if the film itself is rotting, with its characters suffering the traumas of past injury and decay.

Included on the disc are two major inclusions, shedding light on the nature of Cavani's work and interests. First up is a nearly hourlong documentary on "Women of the Resistance" - a worthy feature in its own right, and essential context for Cavani's approach to the psychological aftertaste of war and trauma. There's also a (newly conducted and exclusive) interview with Cavani, and though it runs only 10 minutes long, it provides illuminating information regarding the film's oft-debated color palette.

And therein lies the selling point of this latest rerelease: Earlier home video releases of "Porter" have sported an overwhelming green tint, as if the color had been layered over the entire image. Greens still dominate the frame here, but not as completely: Per Cavani's original intentions, reds and other colors appear more vivid and distinct than ever before. "The Night Porter" mines beauty from the depths of trauma - as the colors, that's now clear.

"The Night Porter"
Blu-ray
Criterion.com
$39.95