the piano teacher
Directed by Michael Haneke
Austria 2001 UK-18 USA-R(cut version) or unrated (recommended)
Review by Jim Eadon
THE PIANO TEACHER (Austrian movie set in Vienna,
dialogue in French, so subtitles) is a notorious
portrait of a woman (Hupert) with stratospheric
musical talent and bugger all social skills.
She scolds her hapless pupils in contemptuous
frustration for anything less than heavenly
perfection (beauty exists because of the ugly).
This unfeminine dearth of empathy is the surface
sign of a sociopathic heart that lies relatively
dormant until a precocious toy boy chats her
up. The triviality of my last few words is a
million miles away from the frigid tone of this
film. The novel upon which this movie is based
is apparently even more extreme, so the director,
if anything, has toned down the depravity.
THE PIANO TEACHER will be misunderstood by those
that are thick (obviously), youthful or sheltered
from the more unsavoury madnesses of people.
I'm merely in my mid thirties, yet I've witnessed enough
to know that shocking levels of madness are as common as muck.
(And I thought
it was just me that be mental). People that
dislike this movie probably haven't encountered
the quiet, frightening insanity that ripples
below the surface of respectability.
THE PIANO TEACHER is a feel bad movie,
but a feel bad movie that is far from
boring, and ultimately rewarding. It is akin
to suffering during a workout, only to be glad
you did soon afterwards. THE PIANO TEACHER is
satisfying in the sense that it is an astonishing
story. Beware gory portrayals of sex, perversion
and freak-out scenes. But this movie is not
gratuitously sick, in the way that Tarrantino's
Kill Bill IS
gratuitous sick, because it is thoughtful and
character centred. The true impact comes from
the performances (Cannes Film Festival awards
to the two leads apparently), the music, the
direction, the revelations and sheer psychological
supernovae.
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spoilers corner
Spoilers!!!!
Warning: this box contains a movie post-mortem analysis that freely gives away important plot twists and details. If you have not yet seen this movie and intend seeing it, avoid this spoilers box until afterwards. Bookmark the page, see the movie, see if you agree with my review then write an arsy comment saying I am talking total b*ll*cks :-)
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The glass in the pocket motive seemed
to me very weird (and upsetting) at
first glance. The trick is to look at
this amazing twist from the perspective
of insanity. The teacher felt spontaneous
compassion for her pupil, perhaps love.
So she wished to do her pupil a favour
by destroying her piano playing career,
after all, the 8 hours a day practice
was obviously turning the poor girl
into a wreck. The only way she knew
of giving happiness and comfort was
to give pain. War and especially terrorism, to
name just two loathsome horrors, operate
on exactly this paradoxical, twisted
principle of rational insanity!
As for
the ending, Hupert's suddenly contorted
face momentarily before we actually
saw the knife, was chilling, truly the
most terrifying moment in this truly
wrenching flick, or any wrenching flick
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There are no more spoilers below this
point, except maybe in any user talkback
comments.
End of spoilers corner
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Julie invites me over for a swim
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