The Piano Teacher (2002)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The Piano Teacher (French: La Pianiste, literally 'The Pianist') (2001) Electra complex, BDSM, incest, rape, Disturbing to watch, Shocking end without closure, Perversely censurable? No, educative. Always impressive Huppert, Damned expressive face Haneke gives us a true Physical experience. Somonka is a form of poetry that is essentially two tanka poems (the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format), the second stanza a response to the first. Traditionally, each is a love letter and it requires two authors, but sometimes a poet takes on two personas. My somonka will be a love/hate letter to this film? #Somonka #PoemReview

Michael Haneke has a knack for creating odd or even disturbing scenes or characters out of the most mundane situations and this is on full display in The Piano Teacher. Anchored by Issabelle Huppert, a very competent support cast who hold their own and wonderful classical music (Schubert's iconic piano number from Barry Lyndon makes a return among other melodious pieces) this film explores the dark recesses of Erika's mind, her struggle with loneliness and her unconventional desires. Erika is forty years old and lives with her domineering and controlling mother. She is an overtly strict, harsh piano teacher but behind this persona lies a vulnerable woman who is so sexually repressed that it has given rise to her odd and unconventional sexual needs. Erika's sexual desires are perhaps the weirdest I have ever seen in film, she's into BDSM, humiliation, voyeurism and even self mutilation, she's definitely a very perverse character which is brought up later on as well. Through all this, we can often lose sight of the fact that even Erika longs for and deserves happiness but she will go about it her own self destructive way. When a new far younger student Walter enters her life she tries to push him away but they eventually start a romance. Walter wants to have a traditional romantic relationship but Erika wants her needs fulfilled by a session of rape and humiliation, it's interesting that she desires the pain and humiliation when she inflicts the same on her students, her desire to be on the receiving side of these emotions makes the viewer always trying to decipher Erika, what's really going on in her head?

Seeking emotional protection from our disturbed, corrupt, violent world, I tried to take refuge in Michael Haneke films; in his poetic and philosophical view and deep analysis of human complexities. I could compare his world viewpoints to Ingmar Bergman, a filmmaker which I would always enjoy being sunk in his creative world. I immensely admire Haneke 's recent film "Amour"; a film which would invite the spectators to take journey into the core of the matters and to the dark maze of human soul. It's said that through insanity, humans would sometimes find sanity, truth, love and empathy.I recently watched The White Ribbon and The Piano Teacher. My predication was that these films were somehow prophetic reflections of a new rise of totalitarian era. A suffocating new historical period!Yes, they indeed, are!I found both movies the White Ribbon and The Piano Teacher disturbing. Learning about these violent realities, the audience would need to get away from the harshness and be surrounded by the beauty of nature, serene environment, and splendor dreams. To deal with reality we need dreams! The Piano Teacher reflects the outlook of 80s, 90s and early 2000s where the notion of sexuality was dominant.

This movie was a pretty intense experience for me. It begins with a look at the life of Erika Kohut, a respected music professor, who lives with her controlling mother. She is pursued by another talented young man named Walter Klemmer, and they soon enter into a Dominant/Submissive relationship. Erika is very sexually repressed and unhappy, mainly thanks to her mother, who keeps check on her like one would on a baby.In many ways this movie reminds me of The Black Swan.Her relationship with Walter, who is not so normal himself, soon deteriorates and and the movie ends with Erika cutting herself, probably with more self harm to come. I only wish the movie had been longer and had let us learn more about Erika, especially concerning her relationship with her father, who lives in a lunatic asylum.