It stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, with Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti and Isa Miranda in supporting roles.

Set in Vienna in 1957, the film centers on the sadomasochistic relationship between a former Nazi concentration camp officer (Bogarde) and one of his inmates (Rampling).

[5] During World War II, Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, a Nazi SS officer who posed as a doctor to take sensational photographs in concentration camps, and Lucia, a teenage girl interned in one such camp due to her father's socialist political ties, had an ambiguous sadomasochistic relationship.

He is now a night porter at a hotel in Vienna, and a reluctant member of a group of former SS comrades who have been carefully covering up their pasts by destroying documents and eliminating witnesses to their wartime activities.

Max refuses to proceed with the trial, calling it a "farce," and admits that he works as a night porter due to his sense of shame in daytime.

Max seeks help by phoning one of his old hotel friends, who refuses, and imploring his neighbour, who is unwilling to provide aid and harbouring Adolph in her apartment.

On the basis of the rough cut, the company agreed to pay for the filming of the exterior scenes in Vienna in exchange for French distribution rights.

Several of the actors' voices were dubbed, including Philippe Leroy (by Edmund Purdom), Gabriele Ferzetti (by David de Keyser) and Geoffrey Copleston (by Charles Howerton).

The website's critics consensus reads, "The Night Porter's salaciousness gives its exploration of historical trauma a bitter aftertaste, but audiences seeking provocation are unlikely to forget the sting of this erotic drama.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times thought the main roles were well-performed, but nonetheless gave the film one star out of four, and called The Night Porter "as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering", while adding that he did not "object per se to the movie's subject matter.

[13] In her 2000 essay for the Criterion Collection release, Annette Insdorf called The Night Porter "a provocative and problematic film.

On the other hand, a closer reading of this English-language psychological thriller suggests a dark vision of compelling characters doomed by their World War II past.

"[2] In his 2020 review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw described the film as a "dated" but "intriguing period piece", adding, "Perhaps there is something in its very crassness, horror and tastelessness that does at least jolt us towards an acknowledgment of pure evil.