So, tonight I'm continuing with Bogarde the actor, I mentioned that I met him first in a light movie of his starts where he was just a pretty boy. The second movie I watched for him was Sebastian, he was a mature man then, and Sebastian also rang a bell, I found it aching but funny, some how I identified with Sebastian I think, only difference is that I'm in a slightly better condition :D.
from then on I watched Justine, Hunted, Doctor at sea , a part from Doctor in distress, Victim, Cast a dark shadow, The damned, The night porter, The password is courage, Desperate moment, The angle wore red , Esther Waters and Campbell's kingdom . So you see , I really became obsessed :D :D :D
most of these movies were good value, the damned certainly was shocking and repulsive yet I liked how it was made, how really really it showed how ugly Nazism is, it's so powerful that it can turn anyone even a Nazi against Nazism :).
Victim is praised to be the first movie in British cinema to talk frankly about homosexuals and even defending them in a way, and Bogarde was praised for courage to do a role which could have ended his career; and he did it well enough.
I liked him especially as the priest in angel wore red and in the password is courage, in hunted and cast a dark shadow .
But what really made me want to talk about Dirk the actor is the movie 'The night porter'. I loved this movie. Yes , as simple as that, I Loved it. I have to say that I watched it on YouTube on 11 parts with the 10th missing. I maybe missing a lot of details when watching over YouTube but still , what I have watched , and I watched it for 3 times in one week, was so good to make me believe it's his best movie for me so far. I still want badly to watch the servant , darling and Death in Venice which he himself considers to be his best work.
The first time was a shock and amusement, a shock because of the content as whole and what to make of it; amusement, basically because of Charlotte Rampling, she could look convincing as 14 years old girl and a 30 years old woman at the same movie :D also , the way she and Dirk moved near each other especially in his apartment , they moved like cats I thought , in a very natural way that must make you notice and wonder!. I don't think I've ever seen any such movement in any other movie, and I have seen a lot.
What kept me needing to see the movie again and again was Bogarde (as Max) performance in 3 scenes, when he spots her in the hotel for the first time after a long time, when he introduces his *present* to her after her topless dance in the camp, and when he tells the countess about his/their *Biblical* story. he was AMAZING in those 3 scenes .
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| Max telling his biblical story ! |
The later 2 scenes told me very clearly that Max is Crazy & in Love, both. I adore seeing his expression when he waits her to open the *present*. The first scene tells me that he is still in love with her, after all these years, He is not afraid as much as he is confused.
Also one of the most important scenes that actually got me so confused the first time watching was the scene between them both in her room after her husband leaves the hotel. I didn't hear what they were saying clearly,And I was surprised by the dynamics in the scene, they were again two wild cats , really Wild this time, I mean later in his apartment they both were more timid cats, but in that scene they were both very wild , confusing, That particular scene used their bodies and voices not their faces most of the time, and used light and shadow in a super way. At the end of it , Max stands tall and assured in the door way saying one very confident phrase. I love his tone saying that phrase.
"If you want to call Frankfurt, Just pick up the phone!"
Almost all the reviews I read about this movie see it as the Nazi officer criminal / concentration camp victim tale, condemning what he did to her and seeing her submission to him as a result for their SM relationship. But from my first viewing I dare say I saw a love story , twisted and sick maybe, but still a love story between them both, and to my enjoyment, skimming YouTube for any interviews about this movie I found one where Charlotte Ramling herself said they did - she and Bogarde - saw the story as a love story and that's how they both and the director decided to present it.
The Poster tells me I'm right :) the yin-yang in it , Max is yin and Lucia is yang or vice versa , Max himself has a yin-yang feelings and actions ,and so is Lucia.
The yin yang symbol by definition says it is "
a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively yin and yang, each containing a 'seed' of the other".And that's, I believe, is a huge part of what this movie wanted to say, not defending a Nazi soldier, Just putting some light on examples of tormented souls. and leaves us to make sense of what they are. as every good movie, leaves us audience thinking a lot about the why and why not, a good satisfying interpretation for what we just saw. I'll never believe that Dirk Bogarde was ever to make any movie defending Nazis any way.
Now , on September 7th I add this to the post :)
First , a photo of a long scene I referred to above, I got it from Sir Dirk Bogarde Facebook page. The scene where they both acted like wild cats, to the left is the start of the scene, and to the right is the end of it :).Mark the way he stands to the left and then to the right :) It is why I love that scene really.
Actually I couldn't find any other photo for this part of the scene and to me these 2 parts of the long scene are as important as the rest of it.
I'm continuing to talk about the movie because basically I was too tired yesterday to collect all my thoughts or what I want to say about the movie .
The most important to say first that I think the heading quote I use in this blog - the one by Tawfiq Al-Hakim - could have been used as a perfect start for this movie .
" Within man lies a deep wondrous spot, to which neither virtue nor vice can reach. Upon which the sun of reason and will never rise. In which the mouth of logic never speaks "
I mean lots tried to find a reason for why Lucia had left her husband for Max, may be a Stockholm syndrome could satisfy some people as an explanation, but frankly it didn't satisfy me.
Also, I need to say that one of the most powerful scenes to me was the scene where all the new prisoners in the camp are naked and being asked their info. as simple and calm as it was, It shocked me to the bone and the one thought that came into my mind was Dante Alighieri's Inferno. I think the director did a very good job with such simple but powerful scenes. The carousel shots is another example. I liked most of what she decided to do in that movie :)
I Think that's all I want to say about this movie, and right now I'm fighting the urge to swatch it for the fourth time in 10 days or so :D
