Piano Teacher

Theatrical Release Date: 2002 03 29 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 738329026424

Studio: Kino

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Adult Language]

Summary: How far is a man willing to go to be with the woman he wants? Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is a veteran piano instructor at a famous music conservatory in Vienna. Erika is highly respected for her remarkable talent and strong discipline, but she's also known to be a harsh taskmistress and does not suffer fools gladly; among her students, Erika's class is considered a highly rewarding challenge, but difficult to weather. Erika seems to get her stern and unforgiving nature from her mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she still lives, and without a husband or a lover, Erika satisfies her strong but frequently perverse sexual appetites through extreme porn videos, voyeurism, and masturbatory practices that sometimes involve pain and self-mutilation. Erika discovers she has attracted the attentions of one of her students, Walter (Benoit Maginel), a gifted and good-looking young man who does not seem at all put off by her icy personality. She refuses to acknowledge Walter's romantic overtures, but when he rises to the defense of a fellow student after a recital, Erika is enraged, and Walter pursues her, finally following her as she storms off to the women's room. Erika abruptly approaches Walter in a rough sexual fashion, but refuses to fully satisfy him until he is willing to allow her to control the relationship. When Walter becomes aware of just how much pain and humiliation is involved in Erika's erotic bill of fare, he refuses to participate, but in time his attraction to her causes him to weaken, and he begins to accede to her sexual demands. La Pianiste was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Maginel were named Best Actress and Best Actor, and writer/director Michael Haneke received the Jury's Grand Prize. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best European Film – European Film Academy Best European Actress – European Film Academy Best European Screenplay – European Film Academy Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – French Academy of Cinema Best Supporting Actress – French Academy of Cinema Best Actress - Runner-up – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress - Runner-up – National Society of Film Critics Best Actor – Cannes Film Festival Best Actress – Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury Prize – Cannes Film Festival Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress - Runner-up – Toronto Film Critics Association

Features: Exclusive interview with Isabelle Huppert
Original theatrical trailer

Piano Teacher

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 11/05/2002

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Runtime: 118 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Erika, the Piano Teacher [11:20]
2. Walter, an Admirer [9:13]
3. After Work [5:08]
4. The Audition [7:33]
5. Student Relations [7:57]
6. Staying Out Late [7:04]
7. A Break in Rehearsal [10:42]
8. The Playing Field [7:45]
9. Lessons [6:14]
10. Erika's Letter [14:06]
11. Desperate Love [10:48]
12. Confrontations [19:21]

Andrea LeVasseur

Based on the novel by Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek and directed by German torture-meister Michael Haneke, the psycho-drama The Piano Teacher is sure to be a shocking experience for audiences expecting the usual light touches and sensuality of French cinema. This bleak story is spoken in French, but takes place in Vienna, Austria, the home to both Sigmund Freud and Franz Schubert. Incorporating themes from both masters of psychology and composition, respectively, the film effectively links the harsh cruelties of classical music scholarship with an increasingly disturbing mother/daughter relationship. From the first scene, it is apparent that the Mother (Annie Girardot) has caused her daughter a lifetime of suffering and sacrifice in the name of musical perfection, thus breaking her spirit indefinitely. The film works best as a frustrating character study of the daughter, Professor Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert), who exhibits a coldness and insensitivity that is affirmed through her repressed sexual deviancy. The ugly scenes with cocky student Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel) are charged with intense conflict as the aggressively handsome young man tries to pursue his frigid master teacher. The momentum is changed after the climactic moment between mother and daughter, where the narrative seems to only confirm Erika's madness. An interesting intellectual pondering on the nature of sexual repression, The Piano Teacher is a frightening portrait of a broken woman. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Christine Gozlan  Executive Producer 
Michael Haneke  Director 
Michael Haneke  Screenwriter 
Yvon Crenn  Executive Producer 
Veit Heiduschka  Producer 
Michael Katz  Executive Producer 
Isabelle Huppert  Actor 
Annie Girardot  Actor 
Benoît Magimel  Actor 
Susanne Lothar  Actor 
Udo Samel  Actor 

Country: France,Austria