In Ain Leoch’s "Sexual Psychology", "somasochism" and "masochism" are defined separately. The former is defined as: "Anything that likes to be emotionally or physically abused or painful to the one you love can be called sadomasochistic." The definition of the latter is just the opposite: "Anyone who likes to accept what he loves The abuse of the subject of the subject, and the physical self-contained, and mental self-contained emotions of humiliation, can be called masochism."
Then Ain continued to point out: "The act of sadomasochism-no matter what it is. Or received, whether it is real, simulated, symbolic or even imaginary-after development and maturity, it can also become a way to satisfy sexual impulses, and at best, it can also be used without sex. The role of sexual intercourse and liberation."
Mentioned the film with the theme of "somasochism", the famous Italian female director Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter" is undoubtedly A masterpiece in a movie with this kind of theme-this movie with a complex theme is full of exploratory spirit. Even if we re-examine it 30 years later, we will still come to the same conclusion: it shows a woman's heart so sharply. The hidden world of the male mind is almost inaccessible there.
It’s also worth mentioning that Charlotte Rampling, the heroine in the movie, is a sexy star with extraordinary charm. She seems to shine forever in her charming ice gray eyes. The light of joking and ridicule. Although we can often see her naked body, emotion and soul performance in front of the camera, we never seem to be able to grasp her mysterious magic.
And she is not interested in being understood by others. She is obsessed with emotions that are not understood by the world. For example, she experimented with Nazi sadism in this film, such as her 1986 work "Max, My Love" by the Japanese director Nagisa Oshima. "(Max My Love) explores the love of humans and beasts with a gorilla... The
strange thing is that these gloomy and pathological characters do not damage her brilliance at all. Even if you are shocked and disgusted by it, it is still difficult for you to look away from her. Moving away, it was still difficult to resist the strange sexiness exuded by her body. Even at 55 years old, this woman still has enough confidence to declare to the world: "I don't believe that there are men in this world that I can't get."
This is a controversial movie, and it is the same as another Italian erotica. Like the movie "Last Tango in Paris", it has suffered years of banned fate. This is also a gloomy and bleak movie. Many scenes in the movie can even make the audience feel suffocated and depressed... The
story takes place in Vienna, the capital of Austria, in 1957. It has an unusually peaceful beginning: we will see A hotel night supervisor Max’s daily work life (we will find with interest that the gorilla in "Max, My Love" has the same name as the midnight gatekeeper), his work is almost methodical of. He patrolled the rooms, chatted with the countess who had stayed in this hotel for a long time, and ordered her to take medicine. After getting rid of the teasing of the woman who was always sexually hungry, he arranged for a male prostitute to provide sexual services for her. His job even included zipping the trousers of the male prostitute.
A famous American conductor and his wife Lucia stayed in this hotel, breaking the calm in the apparent sense. Lucia and Max, played by Charlotte Lamplin, recognized each other and fell into anxiety and panic at the same time. And with the help of the montages that flash back continuously, we will discover that period of sin and abnormal love that was hidden by time...
Max was a well-groomed German Nazi officer at the time, and he seemed to have the identity of a doctor. , But the patients treated by him died almost without exception.
And Lucia, a young girl at the time, was a prisoner in Max’s Nazi concentration camp. She was a Jew and the daughter of a socialist-one of these two "crimes" was enough to get her into this Nazi concentration camp.
We will see Max, who has a hobby of photography, use the convenience of his position to freely enter and exit the concentration camp medical examination site to take pictures of the naked prisoners. Here he found Lucia with amazing beauty, so he took the latter's skinny nudes at close range almost humiliatingly.
Later we will see such a scene. In a dark and dilapidated bathroom, Max is holding a pistol and shooting randomly, while the naked Lucia is running around in the gunshots, of course Max is not Really want to shoot Lucia, this is just part of his favorite game.
Sometimes some secretive men went to the hotel to talk to Max. One of the ballet dancers was obviously a homosexual. He sometimes danced for Max alone (this scene also appeared in the former Nazi concentration camps) He tried to seduce Max, but was also rejected by him. These men, like Max, are members of the remnants of the Nazi organization, and their current identities seem to be the upper-class figures in society. But they all live a life of panic all day long, and they face police investigations at any time. Once new witnesses testify against them, they will face severe punishment. Luzia who suddenly appeared at this time was undoubtedly a powerful witness who could expose their past crimes.
And Lucia walked alone on the streets of Vienna. She began to keep reminiscing about the dark and wonderful time
in the concentration camp: one night in the prisoners’ dormitory, a jailer was watching for adultery. With a female prisoner; Max came to the dormitory and led her to another room. There he tied Lucia's hand to the bed frame with a chain and tortured it; the next day he kissed the wound on Lucia's arm like a benevolent priest, which should have been given by him; he Bring her a nice little pajama, and then pressed her head down and asked her to provide oral sex services for herself; he and other Nazi accomplices watched her topless erotic performance with relish, and then she received him again Another gift of Luzia-it was the head of the jailer who often bullied her-this was inspired by the legend of Salome in the Bible...
The first positive exchange between Lucia and Max after the reunion was almost an Fighting like hatred, Lucia had just decided to report Max, and Max became angry because of this. At this time, the two were like two crazy beasts.
But something unbelievable happened afterwards-the fight suddenly turned into a completely out of control sex, and the two seemed to regain the memories of the sadomasochism when they were fighting. At this time everything is irreversible, although the fate of death is waiting for the two of them somewhere not far away, but what can overcome love?
Lucia abandoned her successful conductor husband and moved to Max's residence. Max again locked it at home with a long chain. At this time, both the police and the remnant Nazi organizations knew Lucia's identity. One side wanted her to testify, and the other side naturally wanted to kill the two at all costs.
Max carried a large amount of food home, then locked the door and closed the curtains. The gunmen of the remnants of the Nazis were waiting outside their room, and they could not call the police for help. So this room became the only place in the world that can accommodate the lovers. The two began to enjoy the last time of love in this room. Love to the end, love to death... The
food was finally eaten one day , So the two of them ate everything that can be accessed in the room, they searched for something to eat in the trash, and then they continued to have sex. Then the electricity in the room was cut off by people outside, and then the edible garbage was no longer found. The situation here is probably no better than hell...
On a dark night, Max helped Lucia put on her underwear. He himself put on the Nazi uniform. The hungry lovers helped each other out of the room. They drove on the dark street, followed by the remnants of the Nazis who were chasing after them-the ballet dancer's eyes were cold and merciless at this time.
Max and Lucia got on and off on a bridge. It was early in the morning and the sky was just getting bright. The damp ground reflected the dark blue light. The lovers supported each other and continued to move forward.
The long-awaited moment finally arrived. Two shots were fired. There was no sensational scene of lovers struggling to crawl together after being shot, and no nonsense that dies before they die. The two died simply, and the distance between their bodies was about 2 meters away. The sluggish and graceful theme music
played again, and the film ended... Even people who have not read Nietzsche’s "The Way of Zarathustra" will know his famous saying: "If you go to a woman , Don’t forget to bring your whip."
And the French writer Thad also said: "I told you: the only way to get into a woman's heart is to torture her. There is nothing clearer than this." After
seeing these words, I think of this "Midnight Gatekeeper". "And then some friends who are inexplicably excited and eager to move, I understand your feelings, but I still want to advise you not to act rashly. This is definitely a piece of advice.
Although the perception that women are born to be masochistic is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it is now an era of prevalence of feminism, not all of them like whips that much. Just as the Kinsey Research Center gave the same advice to a man who believes that most women like abuse Police, lawyers and courts.”
And why does Lucia have such an unforgettable fascination with abuse in this film? I am afraid that historians, psychoanalysts, film research scholars, and sexologists will need to work together to find the answer.
• Regarding the theme of "sadism" in the film "Midnight Gatekeeper", a famous statement by the French thinker Foucault is: "The concept given to this practice is not as old as the concept of love; it is a broad culture The phenomenon, to be precise, appeared at the end of the 18th century. It caused one of the greatest shifts in the Western imagination: an irrational shift to a state of delirium of the mind."
• The Greek satirist Lucian wrote in his book "A Conversation with Prostitutes" "" said: "If a man has never fisted his lover, has not scratched his hair, or torn his clothes, he has not really experienced what love is."-Can this be used to explain In "Midnight Gatekeeper", why does the almost hateful fight between the hero and the heroine suddenly turn into completely out of control sex?
• "Midnight Gatekeeper" is obviously tired of the well-known traditional class analysis and sociological analysis of human nature during and after the war. It hopes to use the method of psychoanalysis to explore the human sexual desire under the suppression of death (ID , That is, the original desire called "Ed" by Freud) is how to be squeezed into the subconscious, and then released under a specific condition, forming abnormal behavior, and finally seeking relief... (Netizen comment )
• Regarding the controversial film "Midnight Gatekeeper", an authoritative foreign film critic commented: "This film only proves to us that a female director can shoot a more disgusting film like a male director. "
•Sadomasochism" is violence? Or love? If it is love, is "sadomaniac" love colder than death?-Will the extreme confusion brought to the audience by "Midnight Gatekeeper" eventually be unsolvable?
(N Film reviews written a year ago)
View more about The Night Porter reviews
