It is a dozen years after World War II and a group of ex-Nazis and Gestapo meet regularly in an exclusive hotel in Vienna. The porter at the hotel (Dirk Bogarde) is an ex-SS concentration camp officer who one day recognises one of the hotel’s guests as a former prisoner (Charlotte Rampling) whom he raped when she was fourteen and then proceeded to use as his sex-slave till the end of the war. In meeting again they continue their sado-masochistic relationship which inevitably, and horrifically, leads to tragedy. This controversial film has been praised as profound, denounced as morally corrupt and ridiculed as high camp. It continues to divide audiences.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
302846
Language
English
Audience classification
R (18+)
Subject categories
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism
Feature films → Feature films - Italy
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Sadism
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)