Rating: 
Summary: Quite funny
Review: Deadly accurate too, especially the mother stuff. Incredible performances, but I'd rather curl up with the cat and watch 'Roman Holiday'. Life's too short to roll around in the John.
Rating: 
Summary: how much and how little any two can share at the limit
Review: this is a movie that makes critical contributions hard to express, albeit 233rdc's review does the job so well.anyway, upon learning what ms. huppert had to say (in the extras) i was puzzled by her obliquely appropriating this work in the name of feminism--the director's opinion on this is sorely absent. i consider this movie makes an artistic point about what takes place at the near-intersection of woman's pathology with mundane masculinity. the main characters, polarized with such charges, fiercely exhaust each other in a unique orbit (i.e. attraction & repulsion.) they do so much onto each other yet there are the unintended consequences that they live and die by and not their prior projections. it is also worth noticing how MUSIC catalyzes everything up to the point where the orbiting gets dangerous; then it stops. music is all they share, everything else is just a succession of opposite positions the characters take along identical dimenssions. excellent acting, excellent directing, excellent story, good music!
Rating:
Summary: JUST YOUR AVERAGE PIANO TEACHER....
Review: Hardly. Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is one of the highest regarded and sought after classical piano instructors around. She's held in very high esteem at the conservatory where she teaches. She holds private lessons and does recitals. She's prim, proper and brutally strict with her students. She also cruises porno shops, watches the porn videos (graphically displayed and the only skin in this film) and peeps in lovers' parked cars at the drive-in where she gets so turned on she urinates. She also cuts her vagina with a razor when frustrated. She lives with her aged harridan mother (Annie Girardot) who pushes her daughter to achieve so hard that it results in mama bashing. Then along comes stud-puppy/jock/wanna-be piano whiz Walter (Benoit Magimel) who starts hitting on Erika right and left until she caves in (in a bathroom) and reveals her inability to have normal sex which frustrates the heck out of Walter. But he professes to love her and agrees to whatever she wants. Sort of. She writes a letter telling him what she wants. The utter degradation she desires in that letter made me wonder, dear Lord---how many "dark sides" does this woman have? She wants to be tied up, slapped around, beaten, sexually humiliated, gagged---the list goes on and on. Walter is repulsed. No dice, Erika. She follows him and begs for his forgiveness and then promptly throws up when he complies to her demands for impromptu oral sex. He throws her out in disgust. Then he comes begging back in the middle of the night, claiming she's bewitched his brain with her "sickness". He locks Mama in the bedroom, brutally beats and kicks Erika and rapes her. He says in effect, "Isn't this what you wanted?" What a cad. He even gets away with it. But the ending is what really threw me. I felt like I was the one needing a good slap. The performances in this film are excellent. Especially Huppert. But I can't believe she let the director get away with that ending. It just left me empty and mad that I watched it. The character of Walter is disgusting. Erika is no less pathetic---she's extremely sick and even puts broken glass in a promising but scared student's coat pocket so she'll slice up her hand and can't play. And gets away with it! I don't know who I could recommend this film to. It's played so dreadfully serious---even the scene where Erika tries to have sex with her mother. All I can say is, if you've read what I've written here and you still want to see it, then go for it. But if you're the least bit hesitant, stay away from it. It's that disturbing and unbelievable.
Rating:
Summary: Notch the average viewer mental age down another year...13?
Review: This film starts off with promise, There's no better actress around on any screen in any language than Huppert. There are no decorative frills adorning the set or her face, a good sign that we may be going to deal with an honest & grown-up subject. Than it all deteriorates into the silliest kind of adolescent male fantasies about domination & bondage, without the smallest inkling of what's going on in this woman's head. Huppert's blank stares can work wonders when there's enough material in the script for the viewer to fill in the blanks. But here blank is just blank. Her gratuitously nasty, "kinky" & baseless behavior wound up making me & others I watched this with want to see a great big tire tread running across those classic features. Definitely for repressed multiplex audiences.
Rating:
Summary: Huppert the tops
Review: Huppert's performance in this movie left me staggering out of the theater and determined to see the film at my own pace so I bought the DVD. The movie is a testament to Huppert's versatility. The movie goes far beyond any American movie in its character's relvelations of her lonely and suppressed nature. I cannot imagine any other actress putting herself through the scenes that Huppert, a consumate actress, played with incredible skill. It deserves all the awards it won at the Cannes Film Festival.
Rating:
Summary: Yowks! This is one scary woman
Review: I've seen Isabelle Huppert in three films now, and there's something about her looks, her expression, an inner stillness that goes right down to the base of her spine - something that lets you know she's a coiled spring all set to go sprooooiiiiing! This is one scary woman. The Piano Teacher takes this woman's sexual frustration and obsession to heights of perversity and cruelty that rise to the level of masterpiece. I can't say I 'enjoyed' watching this film, but I would give it the highest recommendation on every level because of the masterly performances of all involved. It's hard to watch, but once started, you'll find it impossible NOT to watch.
Five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Misses the Mark
Review: I have to disagree with other reviewers who have heaped praise and many stars on this movie which I found to be art house at it's least pleasing. You will have seen words like, dark, brooding, disturbing thrown around like confetti, when in truth the movie simply does not deliver. What leaves an sour taste in the mouth is not the disturbed main character, nor the semi graphic sexual scenes, but mainly a very very compelling film that ends abruptly, if not predictably leaving the viewer feeling cheated. Is it well made? yes - well acted? sure - but like so many of these "critically acclaimed" dramas it's missing one vital thing. Most stories have a beginning, middle and an end - and this just leaves you hanging after nearly two hours, saying "What?"
Rating:
Summary: A Sensitive Reviewer
Review: It has been about two weeks since I viewed this film. I still think of it often and find myself genuinely disturbed by it. I don't agree at all with the reviewers who found the movie pretentious or boring. It is absolutely riveting and dark, but you have to wonder what you are viewing, what is being said about women (even if the novel the film is based on was written by a woman), and why such a subject has to be told in such a graphic way. It seems that if something absolutely repulsive is created in an artistic way people are eager to praise it or risk being labeled anti-intellectual. I saw the rated R version and had to turn away and even fast forward the scene involving the violent confrontation. Anyone who can view what looks like rape to me and call out "brilliant!" or "artistic masterpiece!" is too twisted for my taste. This is not a film for a seeker of beauty or anyone with a sensitive heart. Even if you love drama and tragedy, as I do, this work is in a category all its own. I read a review that likened this film to a car accident: you know you shouldn't look at what could be a gruesome mess, but you look anyway. Try not to look. You might regret it and feel a cloud over your spirit for quite awhile.
Rating:
Summary: Give it a day to sink in...
Review: Yes, I felt like I had been gutted after first seeing it. But not until the next day did I begin to see the true brilliance of this creation. I won't repeat much of what has already been said by those who appreciate the film, but there is one new area I want to touch on...
**SPOILERS**
Why exactly did the teacher put the broken glass in the student's pocket? Most reviewers have noted that it only reflected her cruelty and reaction to an unsatifactory performance. I must disagree. Watch the scene again. Huppert is moved to tears as she watches her student playing on stage. The student is quite an expressive girl (crying & vocalizing her fears)- just the opposite of Huppert's character. There is a scene later in the film, after the girl is injured, when Huppert discusses the accident with the girl's mother. The mother, visibly upset, states "We gave up everything so she could study piano" and Huppert immediately snaps "You mean SHE gave up everything, don't you." So it was my thought that Huppert was simply saving this young expressive student from her own destiny. She didn't want the girl to end up like HER, repressed & hardened, condemned to a life of recitals...gradually killing the soul in the pursuit of perfection. For me, that realization made all the difference in what I experienced through this film. Brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Art does not have to be "nice"
Review: The "Piano Teacher" is one of *those* films.
You are probably either going to *love* it, or you are going to LOATHE it. There is really no middle ground. So which will it be, for you?
If you like your films easy and with Arnold Schwarzenegger in, you will almost undoubtedly loathe it. If you come from some rural backwater and believe in that whole "christian" thing, the same applies. If you have heard that this film is "dirty" and has "sex in it" you will probably feel deeply ripped off. If on the other hand, you know that Hollywood has only produced four or five films worth a damn in the last ten years, and have turned your attentions to the films of the rest of the world, you will be in for a serious treat. "The Piano Teacher" is a real film, about real people, and real human relationships and as such it is neither simplistic or particularly easy to watch. If you like films that make you think and draw a deep emotional response, you will like this film. If you like the idea of a lloooonnng argument or acrimonious discussion after a film, "The Piano Teacher" is definitely one to watch. It *really* stirs the pot. A brilliant film, but one that some people find very difficult to deal with. Check out some of the commentaries on this film on the web, just search for "Piano Teacher meaning" on Google. Magnificent stuff, and top marks to Isabelle Huppert for one of the greatest performances EVER in a motion picture. ...but beware the warnings, this film is not for those who value simple pleasures.
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