The Piano Teacher
A Film by Michael Haneke.
Adapted from Elfriede Jelinek's novel Die Klavierspielerin, The Piano Teacher is a powerful and controversial work from award-winning filmmaker Michael Haneke. Isabelle Huppert gives a performance of astounding emotional intensity as Erika Kohut, a repressed, middle-aged woman who teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory and lives with her tyrannical mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she has a volatile love-hate relationship. But when one of Erika's students, the handsome and assured Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel), attempts to seduce her, the barriers that she has carefully erected around her claustrophobic world are shattered, unleashing a previously inhibited extreme and uncontrollable desire.
Special Features:
- Commentary by Isabelle Huppert
- Interview with director Michael Haneke
- Interview with author Elfriede Jelinek
- Post Synchronisation featurette
Critic Reviews:
- " This is a penetrating, deeply disturbing examination of desire and loneliness, of desperation and self-denial. " – Eleanor Ringel Cater
- " A gripping psychological thriller that, while lacking the power of Funny Games, is still the work of a master. " – Marta Barber
- " The Piano Teacher is high art. " – David Harris