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The Piano Teacher

La pianiste

Austria, France, Germany

2001

129 Min
Color
1.85:1
French, German
  • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Michael Haneke

EXEC Yvon Crenn, Christine Gozlan, Michael Katz

PROD Veit Heiduschka

SCR Michael Haneke, Elfriede Jelinek

DP Christian Berger

CAST Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Anna Sigalevitch, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Cornelia Köndgen, Thomas Weinhappel, Georg Friedrich, Philipp Heiss

ED Nadine Muse, Monika Willi

PROD DES Christoph Kanter

SOUND Guillaume Sciama

Cannes (International Panorama): Grand Prix, Best Actress, Best Actor, Toronto, San Sebastián (Competition), London (Film on the Square), Karlovy Vary (Horizons - Awarded Films), Melbourne (International Panorama), Vancouver, Locarno (Premi speciali)

Synopsis

Erika (Isabelle Huppert) teaches classical piano in a cold and often abrasive style. Approaching middle age, she lives with her doting mother (Annie Girardot) and still sleeps in the same bed with her. Erika’s social life consists of occasionally sneaking away to a peep show where she secretly comes into contact with perverse passion, often using the discarded trash of previous customers. Her beautiful piano playing seduces youthful Walter (Benoit Magimel), who then takes the instructor’s advanced class. Walter reveals his desire during a class session. Erika reacts curiously, presenting a long list of cruel, humiliating sexual acts she would like him to perform on her. Meanwhile, the teacher also torments a talented student (Anna Sigalevitch) who is already plagued by her own fears. Michael Haneke (Code Unknown) directed this unflinching allegorical tale of cruelty. The film caused a stir at the Cannes Film Festival where it was controversial not only for its subject matter, but also because it won multiple awards there—the Grand Prize and acting awards for both Huppert and Magimel—despite leaving many audience members outraged. Based on a novel by Elfriede Jelinek.

Director

Original

Michael Haneke

Cheerfully wishing his audience a “disturbing evening” at a London retrospective of his films, director Michael Haneke insists that he is an optimist at heart, despite all of the relentlessly bleak carnage and deeply disturbing imagery so vividly painted and seared into the mind of anyone who has had the uncomfortable experience of viewing his work.

Practically born into show business, to an actress mother and director father, in Munich in March 1942, Haneke spent his early years in a working class suburb of Vienna before an early attempt at fame as an actor and pianist. Failing to achieve early success, Haneke attended the University of Vienna to study philosophy and psychology, and became a film critic and stage director before making his eventual debut as a television director with After Liverpool in 1973. Setting in motion a television career specializing in literary adaptations and small screen films, Haneke would work successfully in that medium until his feature debut… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 62 wall posts.
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Mr. Arkadin

6Feb12

There were moments during Huppert's interaction with her mother that I just couldn't stop flashing back to The Butcher's scenes with his wife and mother-in-law in *I Stand Alone*.

Wouter Van Heijst

17Jan12

Beautiful actress...

Picture of elle ober

elle ober

14Jan12

Isabelle Huppert has many secrets.

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agostinellips

18Dec11

Defectless movie, absolutely excellent! I also fell in love with Huppert although she likes sniffing on people's jizz. No seriously, she was perfect as well as the rest of the film. Highly recommended!!!

Dav I.D. likes this

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Articles

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Also: New essays up at the Chiseler; and there’s a new book out, Gary Cooper: Enduring Style.

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W184

Annie Girardot, 1931 - 2011

By David Hudson on February 28, 2011

"Annie Girardot, the perky, gravely-voiced actress who became one of France's most acclaimed stars, has died," reports the AP. "She was 79

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Reviews

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THE PIANO TEACHER (2002)

By Jesse Taylor on May 21, 2011

Michael Haneke is one of the best directors of modern day cinema. He understands how to make films that affect the audience on a deep, humane level like no other auteur. The relationship between the…  read review

Untitled

By Sam Cooper on July 13, 2009

The Piano Teacher is probably my favorite Haneke film, but really doesn’t say much since this is the third film by him that I have seen. Regardless, Haneke is certainly an interesting figure in contemporary…  read review

Untitled

By Rica on April 28, 2008

I always used to think Haneke’s films were unpleasant until I encountered this film. This one was also disturbing like his other films, but I found it much easier to sympathise with the main character…  read review

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Why French?

20 posts by 6 people over 1 year ago