Pianiste, La (2001)

Director:

Michael Haneke

Writers:

Michael Haneke (writer)
Elfriede Jelinek (novel)

Release Date:

31 August 2001 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Plot:

A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher. |

Plot Keywords:

Piano Player | Drive In Movie | Female Nudity | Self Mutilation | Criticism

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 11 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Isabelle Huppert	...	Erika Kohut
Annie Girardot	...	The Mother
Benoît Magimel	...	Walter Klemmer
Susanne Lothar	...	Mrs. Schober
Udo Samel	...	Dr. Blonskij
Anna Sigalevitch	...	Anna Schober
Cornelia Köndgen	...	Mme Blonskij
Thomas Weinhappel	...	Baritone
Georg Friedrich	...	Man in drive-in
Philipp Heiss	...	Naprawnik
William Mang	...	Teacher
Rudolf Melichar	...	Director
Michael Schottenberg	...	Teacher
Gabriele Schuchter	...	Margot
Dieter Berner	...	Singing teacher

Also Known As:

Klavierspielerin, Die (Austria)
The Piano Player (International: English title)
The Piano Teacher (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for aberrant sexuality including violence, and for language.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

Germany | Poland | France | Austria

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/18 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Ireland:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Brazil:18 | Canada:R | Finland:K-15 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Italy:VM18 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria

Company:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Trivia:

The part of Erika's mother was originally offered to Jeanne Moreau

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)

Soundtrack:

Piano Trio in E flat, D.929

Good acting, poor execution

No director's films I have ever watched will make you squirm in your seat, or get your mind racing like Haneke. He still lives up to his old style in this film, about a repressed older piano teacher who can only express her control and emotions in the most authoritative and disturbing ways. Hupert plays a teacher who berates her students to the point of tears. She is stuffy, cold, repressed and heartless. But one day a young man who is infatuated with her tries to join her class and start a love affair. Now if this were a typical Hollywood film we'd have the same predictable script you can all see, "their love is forbidden, but he saves her, the agony!, the tears!".. but far from it.

It turns out that what the piano teacher wants out of the relationship is control. But her desires are so repressed that it ends up transforming in cruel ways, and perhaps not for the better of the 2 parties involved. While this film is wonderfully acted (Isabelle received best actress for this role at Cannes), it still ends up a little too forced and uninteresting. Some scenes just drag, and at times you care for those involved, but at other times you couldn't care what happens next. Also I felt the ending didn't provide me with a conclusion (which is ok sometimes) but it didn't provide me with an insight into what might happen later between the 2. It's not that it was finished, or that it left you to make up your own ending, but it just ended without explanation it just died and went to a black hole. To some degree that was the major flaw that went throughout the film. It is a good insight into the mind of repression, but then what else can it say?? Unfortunatly it doesn't say much of anything else, and finds itself most of the time in a mindless vacuum.

Rating 5.5 out of 10