The Piano Teacher (R-Rated Edition)

Rating:
Summary: one of the worst Cannes winners
Review: That movie was soooo boring. An old teacher living together with her mum, whom she hates, very blunt loud dialogues between them, why does an independent self supporting lady stay there at all, ridiculous..
I was very, very disappointed of actress Huppert's role, it was not her fault, that she had so little to do or say, eg in that scene on the public toilet.
E. Jelinek's story was either not transported or is it really so far away from real life, or sex, or even perverse perversion?
I did not even try to find out, too much time spent on that already. Sorry.


Rating:
Summary: art film with realistic, and extremely ugly, psychology
Review: The French have a way of creating films full of people you would never want to know, should not want to know, and if you saw them would fail to see what lies below the surface. In other words, they explore parts of the human condition that Hollywood wouldn't touch. Huppert brilliantly realizes the portrayal of an emotionally twisted woman: maniacally focused on her art, from a bizarre household she cannot escape, and unable to form loving relationships. SHe is at times sad, cruel, and sexually experimental. However, as a reflection of her loneliness and pain, there is nothing whatsoever titillating about her sexuality.

The ride is rough and it isn't for everyone. This is excellent psycho-drama, destined to be a classic that will never achieve a wide audience. Recommended with caution.

Rating:
Summary: The Worst Movie Of All Time
Review: This is the number one worst movie I have ever seen. I usually love French films and enjoy the unprudish and free attitude in most of them, but this one went too far. I wanted to leave the theatre, but I was too transfixed in horror to move. I gagged, I winced, I covered my eyes, but still I couldn't move. After the torture was finally over I felt shellshocked and needed to go home and watch The Lion King to recover. It was a glimpse into the world of a sad, demented, and twisted character that I did not need to see. There was no point to this movie and I felt that it existed purely for shock value with no lesson, point or true plot. If you value your time do not watch this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Sickening but sometimes compelling.
Review: Most viewers either love or hate this lurid and sometimes over-the-top examination of sexual disfunction and insanity, but I'm probably in the minority in that my ultimate reaction to it is...ehh.

I don't need a film to be fully understandable to enjoy and appreciate it, but still I found this one as a whole defectively inconherent and unconvincing; specifically (spoilers ahoy) I didn't buy: 1) the locker room scene where Huppert in a big, big shift in previous tone and behavior gives herself to the jock; 2) her impromptu attempt to make love to her mother (ugh); 3) nor the "stab-to-the-heart" ending, which while jarring, is also highly disconnected -- looks to me it was just thrown in for shock value (or craftily, to get people to wonder and talk about it like any respectable artsy film would aspire to).

However, this film *is* worth a look for the magnificent performance of Isabella Huppert and several unflinching and wrenching (and sometimes disgusting) scenes (not including those already mentioned) which will linger in your memory like limburger cheese on a full stomach. (People might also want to compare this film with Roman Polanski's 1960's _Repulsion_, with Catherine Deneuve, which I thought was a much more effective portrait of sexual repression and descent into madness.)

My review here pertains to the R-rated VHS version; I have not seen the unrated version, which presumably contains more wretched excesses, like the vaginal mutilation scene, which is missing here.



Rating:
Summary: Debasement, Debauchery, Deceitfulness! What A Daunting Film!
Review: "The Piano Teacher" is the story of Erika Kohut (a once in a lifetime role, perfectly played by French actress, Isabelle Huppert) is a renowned piano professor at the Vienna Conservatory, a top-notch prestigious music school in Vienna. Erika, in her early forties and still painfully single, lives and even sleeps in the same bed with her vicious, overprotective and sadistic controlling mother (played aptly by Annie Girardot, however the part was initially offered to the fabulous Jeanne Moreau). Erika is a complex human being to say the least. Besides the fact that she is playing host to a many colored different lifestyle by acting as the "man of the house", Erika is utterly and deeply sexually repressed. When things in Erika's tiny, cloistered life get too horribly awful for her own self-expression and outpouring of feelings, she resorts to sexual self-mutilation, voyeurism, porn shops, and her own underworld of unspeakable acts on other human beings besides herself. Then... Erika meets Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel), a engineering student-cum-talented pianist who signs on to Erika's "Master Class" that she teaches at conservatory. Walter is struck by the singularly quiet but strong, Erika and he lets his feelings be known. However, Erika "expresses" herself in very "different" ways such as sexual sado-masochism and writes to Walter all the things that she longs for him to "do" to her, all the while, Erika treats Walter like less than a human as she does, most all the people and her own students in her sick, sad and twisted life. The irony of this story is that Erika can only truly express herself and her scant good, beautiful and natural feelings "a priori"- in and through her music, but in really no other way. Her sick and twisted thoughts of man overpowering woman, rape, a sexual relationship with her own mother, self-mutilation, and general sadistic behavior overtake her and in the end... Well, watch and find out for yourself. Really, over and above it all, Erika's jealousy of other human beings who can and DO express their longings, fears, joys, and disappointments get to her in the end. When Erika is finally able to express her feelings and what it is she THINKS that she wants and desires in her sad half-human, base sort of way, she is rejected and thus the end to the tale is quite a sad one... This is probably the most sexually charged movie that I have viewed without any of the cast being the least bit naked. There is no quivering frontal flesh in this fabulous film, only frightful, frigid, fruitless feelings that will cut you to the bone... Careful Viewing Is Required...