The Piano Teacher (Unrated Edition)
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Movie Reviews of The Piano Teacher (Unrated Edition)
Movie Review: The Piano Teacher
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Piano Teacher" is directed by Michael Haneke, is in French and is a very odd film that requires patience from the viewer. It's slow moving, slowly told, and ironically...It's about a woman who's sanity is slowly unraveling. I really don't have that much to say about the film and I feel no need to explain the synopsis, so I'll say this. Respected French actress Isabelle Huppert does give an amazing performance and is one of the most cold-hearted characters since Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
Not everybody will like this movie...I myself didn't like it the first time I watched it. The New Yorker said this film has "what may be the strangest sex scene in the history of movies," something I must dispute. I want to know which scene they're talking about because I don't recall seeing such a scene.
I mean, there are a few sex scenes but none are completely strange. In the end, this is a love it or hate if movie...Enjoy.
GRADE: B-
Movie Review: Dark Layers of a Twisted Psyche
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually I am not the type who likes dark, indeterminate, artsy movies -- I prefer to be entertained by a good story, quality comedy or satire. Had I read these reviews, I probably would have not chosen to view this film. However, not knowing what to expect, I found this one very engaging, gripping and more than a bit haunting. Increasingly repulsive, yet fascinating on a number of levels. There is less plot than in the visually-stunning "The Talented Mr. Ripley" or beautiful muscial "Sweeney Todd," (both highly recommended), but this similarly takes you deeper into the twisted psyche of a monstrous human being -- in this case, a repressed middle-aged, French classical piano teacher. Powerful images stayed with me long after viewing. It's a well-crafted, superbly-acted film on a very difficult, abstract subject. Highly recommended if you like looking into the darker layers of humanity, society and sexuality, without Hollywood's mandatory PC crap or in-your-face politicizing. The French may be pains-in-the butt in terms of international relations, but boy can they paint a twisted celluloid portrait. Excellent, but not a first-date movie! Movie Review: Loneliness & Sexual Perversity make for disturbing bedfellows
Summary: 4 Stars
First let me put on the record, Isabelle Huppert gives a dynamite performance which is both disturbing, and ultimately very sad .I had first seen her in the movie "Ma Mare", which was also great. "The Piano Teacher" is a hard film to watch as the subject matter is quite disturbing. It is not the Caf? Latte S&M of pretty young twenty-somethings exploring their boundaries here; it delves into the true nature of sexual perversity.
Loneliness is a terrible burden to bear and part of the strength of the film is that the director never reduces Huppert to a freak show. Her pain is apparent even though she is at many times a fairly odious (and occasionally downright psychopathic character) Hints of what has led her to this situation are given, the unhealthy co-dependant relationship she has with her mother, the perfectionism and driven nature that pervades her working life, madness in the family. In the end it doesn't really matter how it came about as it is an examination of a person in that state and how they fall apart both emotionally and mentally that is being examined here. There are many scenes which stayed in my mind long after the film ended: 2 particular scenes stood out for me:
The scene both embarrassing, horrific and also incredibly sad as the young student reads with disgust a letter Huppert has written to him in front of her detailing her sadomasochistic fantasies that she harbors. We are torn between horrors at the graphic nature of the degradation she fetishists and feel sorry for the horrible and humiliating rejection she receives at the hands of the young student.
Also the gut wrenching final scene, the act of self mutilation and look of madness and despair on her face, the director has captured the despair and horror of so much of human existence.
An important film to see but don't expect to be uplifted!
Movie Review: Deserves to be considered a classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Like all of Haneke's films, the less you know going in the better, so I'm not going to discuss the plot. You probably already know that it's about a sexually, uh...different...piano teacher portrayed by Isabelle Huppert with astonishing and heart-breaking power, and really, that's all you need at this point. Don't read the plot synopsis above, as it gives away absolutely everything--really, I think Amazon needs to take it down immediately.
Although this film might not be for everyone (particularly the squeamish or the faint of heart), it's an astonishingly powerful work of art. A lot of "art" movies are boring, perhaps because they are inaccessible; I can't think of anyone who could sit through this one bored. You can think about this movie on the surface or you can keep plumbing its thematic depths, to very worthwhile results. Aside from the obvious themes in the film, such as madness and sexual repression, the break between high art and popular culture, and sexual/romantic politics, I consider this an important feminist and even neomarxist film (insofar as the film is a criticism of capitalist society)--don't believe me? Google Adorno's essay "The Culture Industry" and see how closely his ideas are paralleled in the film. But this isn't just me being pretentious, Haneke has Erika drop Adorno's name in casual conversation in the second scene of the film; and of course, Elfriede Jelinek, Noble Prize in Literature winner in 2004 (a scandalous win that shook up the stuffy old academy) is a feminist writer, so we know to look for these themes. Other themes include: voyeurism (especially yours, the viewer...Haneke is definitely trying to punish you for your prurient search for titillation disguised as high art--we're all guilty of it!), parent-child relationships and stage parents, and on an intriguing level, the nature of love, and how it's perverted by capitalist society.
Sound like too much for one film? It's not! This one will profoundly shock you, leave you thinking about it for days. I've been thinking about it for months now, and only slowly did many of the ideas in the film become clear.
That's the great thing about Haneke; he can weave a lot of different concepts into a film which still works as a film--I can't say you'll have fun, but you will definitely NOT be bored.
Movie Review: Classical music and sado-masochism...
Summary: 5 Stars
...who would have thought they could co-exist? This movie is criticized as being devoid of content, except for it's graphic sexual and violent content. I would disagree with this viewpoint. I think of it more as a study of mental illness. The film is highly unpredictable and very well made. I loved the music in the film as well. I personally didn't get the impression the filmmaker was attempting to make any broad-sweeping philosophical statements or moral pronouncements, as its critiques on this website are suggesting. Its simply a bizarre, somewhat disturbing movie that is very well made and interesting.