She's approaching middle age, living with her mother who is domineering then submissive; Erika is a victim then combative. A critical breakthrough for Haneke, The Piano Teacher—which won the Grand Prix as well as dual acting awards for its stars at Cannes—is a formalist masterwork that remains a shocking sensation. Not until you tell me. While grounded in reality, much of what Erika Huppert does can be viewed as emotional metaphor. In addition, this version completely removes the following two sequences: -Huppert's cutting sequence in the bathtub -Magimel taking Huppert to the ground and humping her at the hockey rink.
Your last pupil left 3 hours ago. You'll have to force yourself to watch much of it and the catharsis is much more in the range of sustained anxiety than any kind of emotional release but it's incredibly nervy and thought provoking; Haneke continues to hold up a mirror to how desensitised Western civilization is or has become. Walter is a self-assured student with some musical talent; he auditions for her class and is forthright in his attraction to her. How will he respond; how does sex have power over our other faculties? I'm not recommending it but I wouldn't dissuade you either. Severely repressed, she satisfies her masochistic urges only voyeuristically until she meets Walter Benoît Magimel , a student whose desire for Erika leads to a destructive infatuation that upsets the careful equilibrium of her life. Haneke finds his match in Isabelle Huppert, who delivers an icy but quietly seething performance as Erika, a piano professor at a Viennese conservatory who lives with her mother in a claustrophobically codependent relationship. .
Might I know where you've been all this time? Haneke reels us in with the lure of golden boy, Benoit Magimel, but this is an anti-romance as much as Funny Games was an anti-thriller. With her students she is severe. » As with all Haneke films, make your own decision--don't be swayed by what you read and if you are interested in someone using the medium of film for their own unique ends, see it yourself. Schubert and Schumann are her forte, but she's not quite at concert level. She responds coldly then demands he let her lead. Erika Kohut is a pianist, teaching music. In the latter case, the film awkwardly fades out and in again in quick succession, to elide the missing footage.
People may turn their noses up at this but it's only taking what Solondz did in Happiness a few steps further. Next she changes the game with a letter, inviting him into her fantasies. Isabelle Huppert is stunning in this film--combined with Haneke, these two never pull their punches. . . .
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