The Piano Teacher (2001)

 

Genre: Drama/Romance                 Time: 2h 11mins                 Director: Michael Haneke

Pre-warning: EXPLICIT

Quick Summary: Erika Kohut teaches piano at the Conservatory in Vienna. In her early forties, she lives at home, cooped up with her mother, whose influence Erika escapes only on her regular visits to porn cinemas and peepshows. Her sexuality is an affair of morbid voyeurism and masochistic self-mutilation. Erika and life travel separate paths. Until one day, one of her students gets it into his head to seduce her.

Among the laundry list of things played out in “The Piano Teacher” are sexual repression, madness, loneliness, career jealousy, depression, obsessive behaviour, and kinky sex. You Have been warned.

Man, this film really sticks with you and not for good reasons. This was an intense watch. I wasn’t too familiar with Haneke’s other works, but he certainly knows how to get the attention of the viewer. This filming style is very crisp without coming off as extravagant. At the heart of it, it's about control and dominance. 

I will say the acting was on point. Isabelle Huppert as Erica really sells this harsh piano teacher while also having conflicting moments of lust that underlie her character as a whole. Benoit Magimel was also complex in his portrayal of Walter. He starts out like a normal student, but the real him becomes apparent which comes off as frightening, especially in the final act. Both characters certainly have repressed desires which makes them scary people in their own rights.

Uncomfortable with his direct sexuality from Walter, Erika at first does not want to be around him, even trying to block his application to become her student. But she does want him, and she’s willing to do terrible things to keep others from him. And when she sees she cannot be rid of him, Erika dives headfirst into her own personal rabbit hole. He forces himself into her life, piquing her interest and starting to fulfil her desires, but soon becomes frightened of who she is deep down and desperate to get away as she drags him down to her level of filth. Likewise, the audience is sucked down this rabbit hole of Erica's Psychosexuality.

Erika’s masochism is mainly the outcome of her repressed emotions and the deficiency of a definitive figure at home, as well as her needs in life. She feels the need to fill that gap in her life through her sexuality. It shows that her needs have become mixed up with her ideas of pleasure. As well as this, she has become tired of her mother's domination within her daily life and wishes to have dominance over someone, which again has become mixed into her sexuality. The lack of any emotional and sexual intimacy that she has experienced is an ironic manifestation of paraphilia. Haneke successfully established the contrast between her perversity and classical music to achieve stability for the movie and as well as Erika’s life.

As the story flows Erika who has never had a sexual encounter discovers her fantasy disassembled. Walter started abusing Erika’s control and rapes her. This scene represents Walter’s perverted emotions and lack of respect for Erika. It gradually turns into a nightmare for her and smashes her emotional state, which gets worse as they both have to pretend nothing has happened whilst seeing each other in their normal daily life. She becomes reckless and jealous, and angry but also delighted. Her emotions go into overdrive as she loses control of her behaviour, desperate to hold onto what she has wanted for so long in her life. 

It’s hard enough trying to describe the sort of experience that watching this film for the first time because it’s immensely difficult to like its leads on the count of their actions but at the same time, it still keeps you drawn in. It's messed up, yes, I'm not doubting that for a second. But I find it so interesting. The pure complexity of this film is outstanding and I strongly doubt most people can even get close to it. The amount of vulnerability shown in this is actually impressive, and it's done so delicately too. It feels like Erica's whole being is on the show to the audience, anxiously waiting to be slapped to the floor.

 But that’s Michael Haneke’s greatest achievement at the heart, he displays the results of what an oppressive world can do to the most fragile of human beings as shown through the destructive nature of Huppert’s character. I absolutely adore his cinematography too.

The overhead shot of hands playing the piano is wonderful as each shot tells us about each character and tells us more about them than any words they could say. The expression within this is just so outstanding, sometimes it's like you are looking in on someone's life without them knowing. It's raw, it feels genuine. 

The shot of a white letter sitting on the piano as Walter plays holds so much weight and depth to it and no words are needed to do that. His use of long takes is powerfully enriching and his use of framing, camera movement, and editing is on a fantastic level that drives this film. It's a film that slowly grasps you by the neck and holds you there are you watch this film.

This is a movie whose sickening impact is achieved through the simplest means, and I call it a masterpiece.

10/10

"No one would touch your sort, not even with gloves on."

"You know, Love isn't everything."

"I disgust you, don't I."