Piano Teacher, The

Movie Info

Genre(s): Foreign

Written by: Michael Haneke
Elfriede Jelinek (novel)

Directed by: Michael Haneke

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 29, 2002
DVD: November 5, 2002

Running Time: 130 minutes, Color

Origin: Austria / France

Language(s): French (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch, Cornelia Köndgen, and Thomas Weinhappel

Erika (Huppert) is a piano teacher at a prestigious music school in Vienna. In her early forties and single, she lives with her overprotective and controlling mother (Girardot). Lonely and alienated, Erika finds solace by visiting sex shops and experimenting with masochism. (Kino International)

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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lee T. gave it a2:
Things about this movie that don't make sense: People in Vienna don't speak French. They speak German. Vienna is in Austria. Get it? What professor has sex in the bathroom of her school with the door open? Is that realistic? Maybe on Jupiter, where professors don't care if they get ridiculed and then fired. In Vienna, they care, even when they go around speaking French. Why, when Erika finally gets what she's been asking for during the whole movie, does she suddenly become frigid? Why does she ask her boyfriend to hit her in the face, and when he does, the first thing she says is, Not my face? I've got to give the director this much - if you've gotten the viewer to sit through a movie for over two hours and your protagonist finally gets what she's been asking for and then doesn't like it, what could possibly be a more dramatic and illogical climax than to have her then kill herself? Or maybe she kills herself because she finally realizes what a dreadful script she accepted. Now that would make sense.

Jason E. gave it an8:
Confrontations with ones emotional hollowness and inability to engage in physical love doesn't get more harrowing than in Haneke's typically masochistic study of incomplete individuality and the facades we publicly offer to assure ourselves of a full life. Despite existing in a world of gorgeous, soulful music that stirs the heart, an instructor finds herself incapable of communicating with the smallest amount of grace and decency in order to assist her frazzled students. Should it be a surprise then, that something more than failure is met when a chance at a meaningful physical connection is offered. Despite veering off in a foolish and stagy extremes during its last few minutes, this is an believably inexorable experience. Huppert is perfectly suited, with her severe brow and her uncanny introverted instincts, like Nathalie Baye, to play women who succeed in wringing out every last potentiality of pain in her characters. However, I did disapprove of Magimel's casting as he leering eyes lasciviously undress 'Erika' from the onstart. Klemmer's character should be aware of his uncommon talents but more oblivious to his sexiness and charms. Then, his longing for 'Erika' and its eventual unraveling would have been doubly heart-renderingly tragic - for him as well as for her.

Ale H. gave it a10:
This movie can be called a masterpiece! Regardless of the plot, the director knew how to make the audience tremble of emotion. The picture and the music are subtly arranged to accent the deep constrast in the personality of the pianist (the movie's original name). I particularly enjoyed the take when the protagonist's other side is first revealed: after rehearsing Schubert, the music stays in the background while the piano teacher walks through a mall and ends in a porno boutique.

Marilyn M. gave it a10:
Haunting! Perfect!

Anna R. gave it a10:
A superb movie, in which I really didn't know how to feel for the protagonist- sorry? like? dislike? The cold direction and cinematography, and the excellence of the actors made this seem so real. Throughout the film, you want to feel a sense of satisfaction, but we are never given it. It's a cold, shocking and brilliant film.

Andrew M. gave it a 9:
This is an excellent film with some quite overwhelming scenes, especially when the power of the acting is at the fore. Huppert and Magimel are simply outstanding and both fully deserved the awards at Cannes. Huppert perfectly displayed the countenance of a troubled middle-aged woman battling her demons. Magimel was equally brilliant, initially portaying the picture of the hunting dog, then the fox on the run, and then finally the caged lion. Girardot too, who played the mother, was quite exceptional, not overemphasising her character but imbuing enough oomph to make her demanding to watch. I thought the direction and (to a lesser degree) the cinematography were fascinating in this film - with the aid of the acting, it was an absorbing, albeit uncomfortable, film to watch. This is not a film I will queue up for repeated viewings of...but for a one-off movie experience, this is gripping stuff!

Yoon C. gave it an 8:
A painful story of a emotionally repressed and crippled woman who hides behind the rigid(and frigid?)discipline of classical music to control others and to confine her desires. The movie uses the culture of classical music as a metaphor on how tradition and art are utilized as tools of power, domination, seduction, and rebellion. It could cynically be dismissed as a silly movie about a horny woman who needs some action, and perhaps from a laidback American perspective, that view has validity. But, people--especially of older histories--are conditioned by culture and traditions; their sense of self is determined by their perception by others, and the movie asks how does a woman cope when her social status acts as both the barrier to what one really needs. It's a story of a woman who wants to be dominated but performs the role of domination; or the story of a woman who can only think in terms of domination or submission, thereby attracting those with similar tendencies. Her difficulty and hostility aren't only barriers but attractions as well, and the contradictions of the ensuing relationship lead to a harrowing non-conclusion.

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