Fifty years on from its release, The Night Porter remains as controversial and shocking as it has ever been.
The story of an SS officer who groomed, raped and ultimately protected a teenage concentration camp inmate from execution before striking up a sadomasochistic relationship with her when they bump into each other years later - it is not a film for the faint-hearted.
Doomed lovers Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, played by Dirk Bogarde, and Lucia Atherton, portrayed by Charlotte Rampling, embark on a twisted love affair which sees them abuse each other, starve themselves, and finally offer themselves up for execution.
The film continuously snaps back in time to reveal the dark secrets of their shared past - showing the skin-crawling torture Max subjected a young Lucia to while she was interned in the camp.
In one scene, Max gleefully shoots a pistol at a naked Lucia in a kind of mock execution, while another flashback shows him presenting her with the severed head of one of her fellow inmates after she performs a sexual favour for him.
The most famous scene, which above all prompted accusations that the film was nothing more than 'Nazi porn', sees Lucia performing cabaret topless - partially dressed in Nazi uniform - for the pleasure of the SS officers.
The Night Porter understandably sparked widespread scandal when it debuted in 1974, and was panned by US critics who variously labelled the dark and twisted romance 'offensive', 'a piece of junk' and 'Nazi Sexploitation'.
Many have described it as being the first film of the 'Nazisploitation' genre - lurid films which combine the dark themes of sexual exploitation, erotica and Nazism, and which many argue to be barbaric and devoid of artistic merit due to their themes.
The most famous scene sees Lucia performing cabaret topless - partially dressed in Nazi uniform - for the pleasure of the SS officers
The film depicts a love affair between SS officer-turned-concierge Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, played by Dirk Bogarde (right), and former concentration camp prisoner Lucia Atherton, portrayed by Charlotte Rampling (left)
The 'marmalade scene': A shocking sequence in the film shows a starving Lucia eating from a shattered jam jar
Harrowing scenes invoking the darkest images of the Holocaust show Lucia in a crowd of people being rounded up by the Nazis
One scene shows Max presenting Lucia with the severed head of another inmate - a twisted gift in exchange for a sexual dance
However, the film's creator, Italian director Liliana Cavani, has long insisted it is a powerful and 'honest' love story and that the relationship between its central characters is 'beautiful'.
For modern audiences, the young age of Lucia's character and the fact that Max refers to her as his 'little girl' makes it impossible to see their relationship as anything other than perverse grooming.
'It is a nauseating melting pot of schadenfreude, Stockholm syndrome, Lolita-like obsession, and Nazi fetishism that threatens to tear Max and Lucia apart,' is how culture writer Lillian Crawford characterised the pair's relationship in a BBC interview this year.
Audiences are lulled in by the film's rather innocuous beginning, which sees hotel concierge Max wandering to work, conversing with colleagues and going about his tasks with military precision.
The audience soon discovers that Max is a reluctant member of a group of former Nazis who have been concealing their wartime crimes by destroying documents and eliminating witnesses.
While he supports the group's activities, it becomes clear that Max harbours some shame and wants to remain 'hidden away like a church mouse'.
But when a glamorous Lucia checks in at the front desk and his eyes meet hers, the true horrors of his past begin to be revealed and he can no longer escape them.
Twelve years after the end of the war their roles have changed, with Max shamefully hiding his Nazi past and Lucia a socialite married to a wealthy orchestra conductor.
When she stays at Max's Vienna hotel as her husband leaves to continue his world tour, the pair's mutual obsession reignites, and they restart their sadomasochistic relationship.
They engage in a disturbing role-play, re-enacting their old relationship as a prisoner and SS officer using chains and violently abusing one another.
The film is considered to be as one of the earliest portrayals of Stockholm syndrome, a term coined in 1973 to describe the physiological dependency a hostage develops with their captor.
Lucia's youth and innocence - and loss of it - is underscored by a horrifying scene which shows a flashback of her on a fairground ride, flying around in the air with other children while gunshots can be heard ringing out in the background.
Another flashback shows the moment she and Max first meet, with harrowing scenes invoking the darkest images of the Holocaust showing her in a crowd of people being rounded up by the Nazis.
Many of her fellow victims are seen wearing yellow Star of David, a badge the Third Reich forced Jewish people to wear during the genocide.
Lucia, however, is not Jewish, but is said to have been imprisoned by the fascist regime over her father's socialist ties.
The prisoners are stripped down and humiliated, with scores of women lined up while Max - in the role of a fake doctor performing 'photographic studies' - flashes a camera in their faces.
He takes a particular interest in Lucia, getting uncomfortably close to her and focusing in on her gaunt, terrified face.
Max - in the role of a fake doctor performing 'photographic studies' - flashes a camera in the prisoners' faces
A horrifying scene which shows a young Lucia on a fairground ride, flying around in the air with other children while gunshots can be heard ringing out in the background
He immediately becomes obsessed with her and begins his sexual subjugation of her, in exchange protecting her as he and his comrades sign off on the murders of the other inmates.
One horrific scene shows him shooting at Lucia as she stands naked in a locked shower room, taunting her while she runs around desperately trying to stay alive.
Another shocking sequence shows Lucia and a group of frail inmates watching in horror as a male captive is brutally raped by a Nazi guard.
A deathly-looking Lucia, who appears resigned to her fate as she lies face up a few beds away from the unfolding atrocity, is then seen being pulled out of bed by a gloved hand.
Rather than raping her, the audience gets the impression that it is Max 'saving' her - a twisted narrative that runs throughout the film all while he himself is abusing her.
The film's most famous scene sees Lucia forced to dance and sing for her life in a deconstructed SS uniform - wearing nothing but trousers, suspenders, gloves and an officer's hat as she performs for her captors' amusement.
Leering Nazis sit around in the officers' mess, watching as a Venetian mask-wearing musician plays the accordion and a bare-chested Lucia gives a sultry performance of the Marlene Dietrich song 'If I Could Make a Wish'.
Pleased with her show, Max 'rewards' her with the severed head of a male inmate who had been bullying her, in an apparent reference to the biblical tale of Salome.
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