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.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Stream, rent or buy via
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)