The Night Porter (1974)

Dirk Bogarde: Max [Maximilian Theo Aldorfer]

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Max : [describing Lucia]  My little girl...

• Countess Stein : You were always insane, and you still are.

  Max : Sane, insane then... hm. Who's to judge?

  [referring to himself and Lucia] 

  Max : And just you remember... we're both in the same boat.

• [Max and Lucia are laughing while caressing each other] 

  Max : Ah, no, no. Too fast, too fast. Too long. Too long.

  [kisses her] 

  Lucia : Oh, Max, Max...

  Max : [stressful]  Tell me, why'd you come? Tell me. Tell me!

  Lucia : [screams]  I WANT YOU!

  Max : Tell me what to do. Tell me where to go. Tell me what to do.

  Lucia : No...

  Max : Tell me what to do!

  Lucia : [laughing]  No!

  [they continue to kiss and caress each other] 

  Max : I love you so.

• Max : I met her again. A little girl.

  Countess Stein : You mean, a little girl from then?

  [Max nods] 

  Max : [clears his throat]  I found her again. I found her again. And no one must touch her!

  Countess Stein : Who'd dream of touching her?

  [Max gestures with his hands in objection] 

  Countess Stein : Oh, Max, be careful. Before she could testify against you, you should file her away.

  Max : Oh. Oh, no.

  Countess Stein : But...

  Max : No. I love her.

  Countess Stein : [shakes her head]  What a madman.

  Max : She was my little girl.

  [close to tears] 

  Max : She was very young.

  Countess Stein : And now she's not.

  Max : Yes. Yes, she - she's exactly the same - as she was for me.

  Countess Stein : Oh, Max.

  Max : As she was then!

  Countess Stein : I've never seen you so much in love.

  Max : [chocking up]  I - I thought she was dead.

  Countess Stein : What a romantic story.

  Max : No. No, it's - not romantic.

  Countess Stein : No?

  Max : It's not romantic. It's a biblical story!

• [Max has handcuffed Lucia to a long chain attached to the bathroom] 

  Lucia : Why?

  Max : So they can't take you away.

  Lucia : Who?

  Max : Klaus... Bert, Hans.

  [Lucia giggles] 

  Max : It's nothing to laugh about.

  Lucia : And if they come with a file?

  Max : Then you fight.

  [Lucia continues giggling] 

  Max : [angrily]  DON'T LAUGH!

• Max : I never told anybody how - you saved your skin.

  Mario : Sometimes to save one's skin, there's no price too high.

• Max : [to Lucia]  There are no lines to Frankfurt. Why did you come here? Hm? Why did you come? WHY did you come?

  [angrily kicks a table away] 

  Max : Have you come to give me away? HAVE YOU?

  [hits her] 

  Max : Did you? Answer!

  [the pair fall over] 

  Max : Did you? Why'd you come? Why'd you come? Why? Why? WHY!

• Bert : If I were rich, I'd hire you to do everything for me. Would you?

  Max : Yes, of course.

  Bert : You said that because you know I can't.

  Max : No.

  Bert : You don't really want to - you don't want to wipe anybody's arse.

  [Max proceeds to wipe Bert's backside with disinfectant] 

  Bert : Be careful.

  [Max gives Bert a shot] 

  Bert : You're very good at it. You never hurt.

• Bert : Good evening, Max. I'm not too late, I hope. I still have to prepare the show. Stravinsky, "The Firebird", as we planned.

  Max : No show tonight, Bert. I, um, can't leave the desk.

• Dobson : We have to defend ourselves - the war is not over. If you want to live hidden away like a church mouse, then go ahead! But we want back the ranks we held. For we have never given up. Never given up!

  Max : [slamming his fists on the table]  BUT I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP!

  [calms] 

  Max : I'm still here with you.

• Max : [after spending the night with Lucia for the first time in twelve years]  When all seems lost... something unexpected happens. Ghosts - take shape in the mind. How can one pull away from it? This phantom. With a voice and a body. This part of one's self.

• Max : My little girl - you, you remember my little girl, don't you? My little girl is waiting for me. Bye.

• Bert : Max, we all want the same thing - to live as peaceful citizens. Each of us has a respectable profession. Even I have some honorable duties. If you had wished, you could have had another career.

  Max : Look, Bert. If I choose to live like a...

  [directed to Dobson] 

  Max : Like a church mouse - I have a reason. I have a reason for working at night. It's the light.

  [to the others] 

  Max : I have a sense of shame in the light.

  Klaus : We are proud - of having been officers of the finest corps of the Third Reich. And if I were born again, I would do exactly what I did.

  Max : [does a Nazi salute]  Sieg Heil!

  Bert , Klaus , Kurt , Dobson : [instinctively do the same]  SIEG HEIL!

  [Max breaks out of the salute, and ruefully notes that the others still have their arms outstretched. He walks away, shaking his head] 

• Kurt : Why this unexpected meeting?

  Klaus : Max is hiding a dangerous witness in his apartment, and he won't conclude his trial.

  Kurt : It will be concluded. Max, answer me honestly - it'll simplify everything. Have you become a Communist?

  Max : Oh, God - the usual accusation, even for the newly born!

  Dobson : I know you're not a Communist; you're not a defeatist. You're one of us!

  Max : Which means I'm rotten and I stay rotten.

  Dobson : YOU BASTARD!

• Countess Stein : I want to help you. What can I do?

  Max : Send me a box of chocolates.

• Max : I don't give a damn about this trial. It's a farce.

  Klaus : The trial is not a farce.

  Max : Yes, it is! It's a farce! It's a game - a game for freaks!

  Klaus : The freaks are you and your whore.

• [first lines] 

  Stumm : Good evening.

  Max : You're early.

  Stumm : I want to get off early tomorrow morning. Ah, here are the flowers, the newspaper and the cigarettes that the countess asked for.

  Max : [puts the flowers in a vase]  Thank you.

  Stumm : Has she called down?

  Max : I don't know.

  Stumm : You're always sending only me out to buy things for her.

  Max : [annoyed]  You get tipped, don't you?

  Stumm : [sarcastic; shrugs]  Oh.