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 cinema and I can’t wait to check out more of his work. With The Piano Teacher, Haneke explores the themes of capitulation and masochism, all revolving somewhat around the beautiful instrument that is the piano.

Isabelle Huppert is a prestigious piano teacher at an even more prestigious musical school, where she sits all day pointing out her students mistakes and errors, scolding them for misinterpreting the music, while doing little to teach them. Her life takes a 180 whenever she goes home to her obsessive mother, and frequent battles for control and dominance take place, which usually end in a cascade of tears and apologies. Through her schooling and mother, Isabelle has become sexually repressed to the point of visiting porno stores to smell used tissues men have masturbated into, and eventually leads her to voyeurism as she peers in on people having sex in a car. This all changes when she meets Benoit Magimel, an engineer who has a passion for the piano, and the piano teacher.

Benoit believes that he is in love and tries to convince her. Once he does they each have their own ideology on what love is, and how to go about with a healthy, sexual relationship. Benoit likes the more traditional aspects of love while Isabelle likes to take the role of the victim, which echoes the idea that Benoit is using her like an instrument. The one question that I still have yet to figure out is if I like Isabelle’s character. Should I feel sentimentality for her, for being such a repressed character? Or should I be disgusted, by her emotionally abusive teaching, her perverted and shameless masturbation, and how she intentionally destroyed a student’s hand with shattered glass? I still mull this over in my head.

Whether or not I like her specifically, The Piano Teacher does make for an amazing character study of this perturbed woman. Haneke explores the darker psychological side that many people face, and chips away to the core of it, leaving enough left over for you to think over in your head. All in all, a fantastic film.