CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Jacomedi A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

sharky_55 One night as Erika Kohut returns home, she is immediately confronted with a barrage of questions and accusations and insults by her mother. It turns physical as the pair exchange slaps, and then her mother tearfully relents and guilt trips her into a heartfelt embrace and make-up. We sense that this is a frequent cycle of events in this troubled household. And then slowly, as Haneke always does, the uptight, business-first piano teacher is revealed to be some sort of sexually repressed deviant that seeks solace and expression in BDSM and other sexual kinks. One of the things that this film excels in is visually portraying that carnal lust from our two main characters. One is a middle-aged woman whom is suggested to never have had a normal relationship, while the other is an excited 17 year old boy. In an American film, the lovers would burst through the doors, struggling but somehow never actually removing any of their clothes, and then we would cut to a post-coital scene with the sheets appropriately covering their top halves. Here, they are entwined with such quiet desperation (see the pose on the poster) even as their characters are so at odds with each other. She forbids him from touching her and denies him orgasms, no doubt passing on such a strict manner of obedience from her mother. And he jogs on the spot vigorously and celebrates on his apparent sexual conquest to be, like a 17 year old would. The tragedy then, is in the misunderstanding of the psychological damage that has been done to Erika and its consequences. Walter is uniquely positioned at an age of breaching adulthood and suffice to say that his smile and greeting near the end of the film is supposed to be a pleasant one, but becomes chilling because he has completely misinterpreted the situation. This is a deeply pessimistic film, and I think for once Haneke has missed his mark in attempting to forge this character of Erika. He is forced to rely on these subtly shocking scenes as he often does; the peeing while voyeuristically spying on a couple in a drive-in theatre, the self-mutilation, and the sudden pouncing and sexual longing for the mother that reeks of simplicity and misunderstanding. She is reduced to a delicate sadomasochistic stereotype that so easily wilts over so that we are compliant in being sympathetic with her. It is a pity because Isabelle Huppert's performance deserves much praise. There is a cold, calculated manner in the way she carries herself that puts on such a strong exterior barrier in her persona that makes it so much more effective when we peer into her deeper fantasies. After she is caught in the drive-in, she doesn't scamper away like some red-handed thief, but briskly makes her way out of the area with her head held high like some sort of businesswoman with a busy schedule. The slight embarrassment on Huppert's face sells it. Later, when she catches one of her students looking at porn magazines in a shop (but really it is he catching her), there is that slight embarrassment again, but she acts haughtily and dismissively and quickly pretends to be occupied. She presents herself as the harsh, unsmiling, career-orientated woman while committing such a petty and hurtful act in the background. Haneke shoots these characters in harsh light and washed out palettes even as they are surrounded by beautiful music. His edits link together the steely, unblinking gazes of teacher and student and vice versa, blocking out all other directions. In one instance, he frames Erika at a piano recital, completely surrounded by empty chairs and separated from the others of the group. A conversation with the weeping mother of the wounded child conveys a strong sense of irony when she questions who would be so evil to do such a thing. But this film is not about the lurking of evil below the surface. It is about misunderstanding, and how it gives birth to tragedy.

George Roots (GeorgeRoots) "The Piano Teacher" is a 1983 novel by Elfriede Jelinek, that has been adapted for the screen by Michael Haneke. I've never read the original source material, but through reading a plot summary it seems Mr. Haneke hits a majority of the themes and scenarios represented. Michael Haneke has a certain approach to characters in his movies that I've come to respect a great deal. Aside from shooting his works effortlessly, he has always depicted his characters in a way as to never manipulate the audience, but allow their actions and mannerisms remain open to interpretation for each individual. This allows for less formulaic performances, and a story like "The Piano Teacher" can benefit greatly with this approach.Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert), is a piano professor at a prestigious music conservatory. Already in her forties, she still lives in an apartment with her domineering mother (Annie Girardot), leading to much frustration between the pair. Eventually Erika meets Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel), a 17 year old engineering student and eventually both develop an obsession with each other. Even though she initially tries to sever contact between them, his persistence eventually leads to his discovery of her personal and quite frank voyeurism.For as challenging as the film may get, it never begins to become tedious. Granted for a 2 hour picture the story feels a little stretched, yet it's Haneke's camera work and Huppert's fantastic performance that makes this all so highly engaging and unique. The music is implemented while forged extraordinarily well, and the levels of S&M can become extremely uncomfortable towards the third act, which finally made me realised why so many reviews I've read said it became "unpleasant" viewing. Regardless, it all leads to a stunning conclusion and I highly recommend this movie. If we can live in a time where fan-fiction like "Fifty Shades of Grey" sells millions, then "The Piano Teacher" is in a league of its own and should be praised and held in a much higher regard. Final Verdict: Isabelle Huppert made the movie for me. She really transcends what could've been expected, and my predicaments towards the stories conclusion were consistently altered. 9/10.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Being a piano teacher in a school isn't necessarily the most compelling job. Erika(Huppert, disappearing into the role) lives with her overbearing mother(Girardot, fleshing out what in the hands of a lesser talent would have been one-sided), who keeps close tabs on her. Both of them are single, lonely, missing the father, and feeling they've achieved what they could in their lives. She always retains control even when not the only authority(even in that situation, she doesn't "give" any), keeps her distance, doesn't smile, and claims to have no emotion. Her love of the music, that we are at times given rich explanations of, fits with her personality, and vice versa - clear rules for what is right and what is wrong, intelligent and reserved, refusing to cater to the masses. But she does have violent fantasies, and when she meets the young enthusiast of the classics Walter(Magimel, fantastic, holding his own against a woman 20 years his senior), she may be able to live them out - even if doing so poses great risks to herself.This is gripping from start to finish. It is not for everyone, and I mean no offense to those who aren't in the intended audience. There are a lot of long takes with few people in the shot, a lot of silence, few cuts or close-ups, little in the way of movement of the camera, and largely basic angles and compositions. It's driven by the acting and dialog(with many mean, even cruel, lines, to an extent equally divided between the leads - there is no room for failure in the perfectionist world of performing arts that require that much talent, nor is there a way to impress, at most, be thought to be "good enough"). There are no real plot twists, merely a spiral towards the inevitable awful outcome. This sets up some themes and characters, and explores them, thoroughly. Our protagonist has no make-up, and this is an example of this not holding back, not covering up imperfections, it is bare and harsh, and all the better for it. This is only the second film of Michael Haneke I've watched, the other being The White Ribbon, but I love both of them, and will be seek out more of his work.This goes into selfishness vs. sacrifice, disgust vs. understanding, complete acceptance vs. unrepentant rejection, what is proper and what is not. Add to that the way the world of yesterday's "sensual" (in direct contact with, not theory but talent for playing, composing) love of art being shoved aside by, and for the sake of, modern intellectualism(study of theory) and crowd-pleasers such as sports. Most of all, it is about sado-masochism. This goes into that subject without misrepresenting(unlike 50 Shades of Grey) and free of judgment. It is, however, deeply unsettling, showing the negatives that can come from it, whilst clearly showing that they aren't inherent to it. When it isn't practiced in a healthy relationship based on trust, where the partners use safe-words, consent and aftercare. Because when someone has suppressed something for the longest time, it can be an explosion when the faucet is finally turned on. We see how the greatest perversity may be borne of the strongest repressive environment, and that just because one's sexuality has not been expressed, doesn't mean it's gone.This contains a near-constant tension, mostly regarding disturbing content, a lot of sexuality, some of it graphic and/or violent. It is a movie that is sometimes arousing, other times revolting, one that dares you to look on yet is impossible to take your eyes off. I recommend this to everyone who is not put off by the subject nor the unflinching approach to it. 8/10

James Hitchcock Although  "The Piano Teacher" is a French film with dialogue in French, it is set in Austria, based on a novel by an Austrian writer (Elfriede Jelinek) and directed by an Austrian-born director, Michael Haneke. The original French title of this film was "La Pianiste" which literally means "The Pianist", as does Jelinek's title "Die Klavierspielerin". This title was not, however, used in English, doubtless to avoid confusion with Roman Polanski's film of that name. The main character is Erika Kohut, a professional pianist and a piano professor at a Vienna music conservatory. Outwardly Erika is a reserved, repressed and puritanical individual. Although she is already in her forties she still lives at home with her elderly, domineering mother; the two even share the same bed. We never see Erika's g father but learn that he is incarcerated in a psychiatric asylum. There is, however, a hidden side to her personality, first revealed when we see her acting as a Peeping Tom, spying on courting couples at a drive-in cinema. More of this hidden side is revealed when Erika begins a sexual relationship with a good-looking young pupil, Walter Klemmer. Although Walter is physically attracted to his teacher, he is repelled by her sadomasochistic tendencies, which leads to a curious love-hate relationship growing up between them. Erika's speciality as a pianist is Schumann and Schubert; Schubert's music plays a particularly important part in the film. This struck me as very appropriate, as his music has always struck me, like that of Mozart, as being full of emotion but hiding it behind a veil of reserve, in contrast to the much more openly emotional and Romantic music of slightly later composers such as Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner. I felt, however, that the film rather pandered to the Hollywood myth of Schubert as a shy, ugly little man who poured into his music all the emotions he could not express in life; in reality he seems to have been a successful womaniser, even though he was far from handsome. Isabelle Huppert is often compelling, and Annie Girardot is also good as Erika's witch-like mother, but this is not a film I cared for. In what is supposedly a character study far too much is left unexplained, such as the incident in which Erika deliberately injures one of her female students by putting broken glass in her coat pocket. In the violent sexual encounters between Erika and Walter it is never made clear whether he is abusing her or merely pandering to her masochistic tendencies. Haneke (who acted as scriptwriter as well as director) might think that this distinction does not matter, but I felt that it was very relevant to an understanding of Erika's character. "The Piano Teacher" seems to have been intended as a dark, disturbing psychological study, but I found that it did not do much to explain Erika's behaviour except in terms of that old get-out "sexual repression"; there are doubtless many people who are sexually repressed, but most of them do not behave in the same way as Erika, who appears to be verging on the criminally insane. "The Piano Teacher" may be dark and disturbing, but it disturbs us to no good purpose and hides little of substance beneath its darkness. Having been greatly impressed by Haneke's more recent "The White Ribbon", I was very disappointed by this film. 4/10