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The Piano Teacher

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The Piano Teacher

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Summary

Award-winning drama from the director of Caché and Funny Games, starring Isabelle Huppert. A new student slowly brings to the surface the sexual fantasies simmering beneath the apparently respectable facade of a straight-laced piano teacher.

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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

David Parkinson

After the furore surrounding Funny Games, director Michael Haneke and controversy became synonymous, and this grim, award-winning drama won't alter that perception. Isabelle Huppert plays the middle-aged tutor who lives at home with a possessive mother and has a morbid interest in voyeurism and pornography. No surprise then that the relationship she starts with talented but wayward student Benoît Magimel is a dark and disturbing one. Haneke's adaptation of Elfriede Jelinek's powerful novel is as much an indictment of modern Austria as a study of the female struggle to make a cultural, political or sexual impact. Yet, for all its thematic fidelity, this often overwrought melodrama falters because of the increasing implausibility of the plot and the problems the two leads have with conveying their anguish. In the end, Huppert's impassivity in the face of degradation and despair relies utterly on her impeccable acting technique, which sadly exposes Magimel's inability to put across his character's terrifying transformation.

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7.5/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameErika KohutIsabelle HuppertMotherAnnie GirardotWalter KlemmerBenoît MagimelMrs SchoberSusanne LotharDr BlonskijUdo SamelAnna SchoberAnna SigalevitchMrs BlonskijCornelia Köndgen

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Crew

rolenameDirectorMichael Haneke

Details

Theatrical distributor

Artificial Eye

Released on

2001-11-09

Languages

German | French

Guidance

Contains violence, swearing, sex scenes and nudity.

Available on

video and DVD

Formats

Colour

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