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The Piano Teacher (2001)The Piano Teacher (2001)

The Piano Teacher (2001)

An unnerving Austrian psychosexual drama from the meticulous auteur Michael Haneke

Drama, Romance

best
THE VERY BEST

8.6

movie

Austria, France
French, German
Challenging, Dark, Depressing
2001
Michael Haneke
Anna Sigalevitch, Annie Girardot, Benoit Magimel
131 min

Synopsis

rotten tomatoes
imdb
wikipedia
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

Our Take

8.6
Isabella Endrinal

Based on the Austrian novel, The Piano Teacher is as brilliant and as disturbed as its protagonist. The film follows Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert), the repressed masochist in question, and the trainwreck of a relationship that she develops with her student Walter Klemmer (Benoît Magimel). Their dynamic is undeniably toxic. Austrian auteur Michael Haneke frames each scene with clinical detachment, but it is absolutely brutal how the two characters try to assert control over each other, engage in sadomasochism, and repeatedly violate each other’s boundaries. Huppert’s heartrending performance fully commits to the merciless treatment Erika receives. But more tragic is the way Erika’s unusual relationship could’ve freed her, could’ve helped her process her abuse, and instead, reinforces her repression. It’s scary to make yourself vulnerable by admitting your desires, only for them to be used against you.

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