THE PIANO TEACHER —* — Isabelle Huppert, Benoit Magimel, Annie Girardot, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch; in French, with English subtitles; not rated, probable R (sex, violence, vulgarity, nudity, profanity, brief gore); exclusively at the Tower Theatre."The Piano Teacher" is the sort of movie that discourages American audiences from ever wanting to see another foreign film.
This French-Austrian co-production is one of the most singularly repellent, albeit well-acted movies to be released in recent memory — it could be a European cousin to the controversial 1977 drama "Looking for Mr. Goodbar."
But this film takes the "Goodbar" themes of self-loathing, fear of intimacy and soulless sex and magnifies them to the nth degree. As a result, the film is even more grotesque and cartoonish than you can imagine.
Also, while some see, to have mistaken the film's excesses for brilliance, "The Piano Teacher" is actually simply ludicrous, and its various psychological "insights" would be hilarious if the film wasn't so completely horrid.
Based on a novel of the same name by Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek, the story focuses on the title character, Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert), a severely repressed middle-aged woman who lives with her domineering mother (Annie Girardot).
Still, she's a talented music instructor who adores the compositions of Schubert and Schumann, though her affection for classical music doesn't extend to her students, whom she's constantly brow-beating. That includes Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel), a much younger pianist who's desperate to impress Erika. He even goes so far as to learn her favorite works to win her favor.
But when she finally returns his affections, he's horrified to learn what her version of "intimacy" entails.
It's not really worth going into the various perverse plot twists (and that term really applies here). Suffice it to say that veteran Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke doesn't flinch when it comes to showing sexual perversity.
As for the cast, it's hard to know what to think of Huppert's performance. After all, she can't make her character worth watching. And Magimel's characterization of Walter is inconsistent at best.
"The Piano Teacher" is not rated but would probably receive an R for graphic scenes of sex (including flashes from pornographic videos), violence (beatings, slapping and a stabbing, as well as violence against women), crude sex talk, full male and female nudity, occasional use of strong sex-related profanity and brief gore. Running time: 130 minutes.
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