Rent The Piano Teacher (2001)

A brilliant film if you can bear to watch it - The Piano Teacher review by CB

To say this is a disturbing film is an understatement. It is vastly complex and very sordid. The acting is utterly wonderful.

I usually watch Heneke’s films two or three times but not this time. It is a difficult masterpiece.

Repressed - The Piano Teacher review by CP Customer

This film is in French language with English subtitles. Having admired writer-director Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour’ (2012) and having a soft spot for actress Isabelle Huppert, I had expected to like this film better than three stars. It is a rather unpleasant journey into the sexual desires of what we used to call in less politically-correct times an “old maid”. She lives with her mother, teaches piano has a messy affair with a boy student. An atmosphere of repression and brutality hangs around the film, and it has no likeable characters. The quality of writing is high and so is the standard of directing. Perhaps it is more suited to cinephiles than to general viewers.

An extremely warped, shocking & provocative psycho-sexual story with Huppert on stunning form - The Piano Teacher review by TB

I had never seen a Michael Haneke film, although had seen the enormous critical praise his work has attracted, especially the multiple plaudits for Amour & The White Ribbon. The only things I did know about him was that his work is extremely cold & abrasive and that he dives headfirst into provocative & often controversial subjects. After watching Elle, I was wanting to see more of Isabelle Huppert's work & this was one which came highly recommended, as well as winning her the Best Actress award at Cannes.

Erika Kohut is an extremely talented but highly dysfunctional woman. Whilst from the outside she looks like the picture of the perfect musician, revered for her teaching ability as well as her piano playing, the truth is anything but. Erika lives with her highly-strung & fastidiously controlling mother in a small flat which could quite easily double for Hell-on-Earth, even sleeping in the same room on beds next to each other. Erika is also completely warped sexually, both in her own actions as well as in her voyeuristic tendancies. Into this world comes Walter Klemmer, an attractive & talented young man who falls head over heels in love with Erika, but who quickly finds that she corrupts everyone she comes into contact with.

This film is like nothing I've ever watched, especially given when it was released (2001.) It doesn't vaguely insinuate or make reference to the sort of deviances Erika is obsessed with, it puts them right up on screen, punching you in the face & demanding that you process them. Whether it is the mutilation by her own hand or the revelling in the results of previous sexual activity, this is shown uncompromisingly & directly. And what is fascinating with that approach is that it takes all the sensationalism out of it. You watch a scene stripped of all gaudiness & get to the truth, however shocking, of Erika's life & tastes.

But what prevents this from descending into an empty shock fest is firstly the quality of the writing & direction and Huppert's performance. On the production side, the scenes are directed with a cold precision, ruthless in how they are staged. Haneke never gives any warmth to his settings, even in a situation like a piano recital in a gently-lit room with a welcoming audience. Erika's classroom is as sterile as an operating ward & even less welcoming. And her flat, instead of a sanctuary to rest & recuperate, is a maze of rooms with her mother scuttling about like a demonic cockroach and finding ever more hurtful ways to criticise her.

And then we come to Huppert's performance... I thought after watching Elle, I had seen the limits that Huppert could take things to, only to have this obliterated. Through Huppert's fearless & completely unselfconscious acting, we are shown a damaged but still fiercely independent woman, who is living in a world she cannot fit into, despite her very successful career. The fact that in one scene, we can feel sympathy, disgust & fascination with Erika all at the same time is a testament to Huppert's power & skill. Special mention must also go to Benoît Magimel as Walter. Despite his pretty-boy looks, once he gets entangled with Erika, you start to see him erode, whilst he desperately tries to cling on to the remaining decent & morality he has as a person.

This is not an easy film to watch. But it is fascinating, horrific & spellbinding all at once. And with Huppert at its centre, it becomes a rollercoaster ride you cannot get off. And nor do you want to.