The Piano Teacher (2001)
Director: Michael Haneke
The Piano, The Pianist, The Piano Teacher. When I picked this up from the library, I had to second guess why the hell it was on my queue. I didn’t even know the release year until it was over. I thought I was going to watch a WW II movie about the Nazi’s saving a concert Pianist from the concentration camps. Oh no. I was in for a ……………..very disturbing surprise.
I have been trying to do an Isabella Huppert deep dive over time. I am woefully behind as it turns out. What a career she’s had! And every film I have watched with her has blown me away.
The Piano Teacher does not disappoint. There is S & M, bullying, intimidation, harrowing competition, revenge, jealousy, intense psycopathic behavior, suicide, INSANE Mommy issues - just to set the stage.
This extremely talented piano teacher (Isabelle) has mental health issues beyond all control. It all becomes evident when a hot, young male student takes a (seemingly real) romantic interest in her. He seems to like the challenge of breaking through an ice cold woman who could not possibly know how to satisfy his physical and emotional desires. But he persists - until it gets really weird. She unravels and he is put off, at least temporarily. He goes back to her, even with more disturbing knowledge about her own desires via a hand-written letter. He’s caught up in his emotions, but is also young, hormonal, confused, with a life ahead of him. Maybe this is fun for him; maybe he has some mental health issues as well. It is not entirely clear to me.
The abusive scenes between her and her Mom are so raw and real such that you can only draw the conclusion that her issues draw directly from this upbringing. She still lives and sleeps with her Mom at night, and often after abusive and verbally harrowing fights. I’ll say no more, but it’s not all sleeping. At this point, I knew she needed meds and a psychiatric diagnosis.
There were a few low moments when I thought to myself, why is he doing that, why is he acting like that, what does he really see in her, this is unbelievable - an icy, plain, school marm type, hardly reciprocating. But I think the challenge and intellectual draw is there. He himself is an engineering student pursuing piano.
What happens in the end END? No spoilers, don’t worry. Not quite sure, but the foreshadowing alludes to only one thing.
What Did I Like The Most About This Movie? The screenplay was extremely fucked up, intense, and bizarre. How does someone come up with these ideas to make a movie? The acting was incredible by both Isabelle and her student. I’ll be looking for more films by him (Benoit Magimel). There is a Disc 2 in the DVD case, assuming with interviews and deleted scenes and analysis (Criterion Collection films). I’ll be watching that. This is a perfect “film discussion” type film, not for the delicate type.
Where Did I Watch This Movie? I got it on DVD from the library.