The Piano Teacher November 25, 2006
Posted by clydefro in : Modern Films, 2000s , trackback
Just when I’m ready to dismiss Michael Haneke as a talented trickster more interested in making movies for himself than audiences, I reluctantly give him a second chance and I end up emotionally floored. His 2001 film The Piano Teacher
The woman of the title is Erika Kohut (brilliantly played by Isabelle Huppert), who teaches piano to students in a Vienna conservatory. She is almost abusive in her strict instructions, yet highly regarded for her knowledge and skill at the piano. Her home life is altogether different, where the accomplished instructor is treated like a helpless child by her mother. Every action is challenged with questions from the older woman. Their relationship is both physically and mentally abusive, akin to an unhealthy spousal dynamic more than mother-daughter.
When Erika is asked to perform at a recital, an enthusiastic young man named Walter (Benoît Magimel) is so impressed that he soon seeks a coveted spot as one of her students. The second half of the film shifts the focus to the relationship between these two. Their disturbing and shocking encounters make for an unforgettable and emotionally draining impact on the viewer. I’m not sure I completely buy into Walter’s motivation for his actions, but the vagueness of his and Erika’s backstories avoids spelling out too much information for the viewer which Haneke always seems to carefully resist doing.
While Haneke once again shows his mastery for engrossing audiences often to the point of discomfort, it’s Isabelle Huppert who truly makes the film come alive. Her performance here must be one of the finest in modern cinema. Each look and reaction perfectly expresses which side of the character is being shown at any given time. Erika acts differently depending on her company and Huppert gives her just the right amount of nuance to make it believable without forcing it into caricature. When Erika exposes her deepest secret to Walter, Huppert’s transformation from the hardened disciplinarian to a fragile submissive is stunning.
There’s an overwhelming amount of analysis that can be gleaned from the relatively few minutes the audience spends with Erika. The book apparently delves more into her past and her self-destructive acts. While I’m sure psychoanalysts could expound upon the sexual elements of the film, I’m equally fascinated by Erika’s dichotomous behavior at home and at work. Her inability to stand up to her mother except for physically lashing out at her is contrasted by her rigid teaching methods and low tolerance for outside opinion. Too often in films we see disturbed or emotionally challenged persons portrayed either unbelievably “normal” save for their affliction or too extreme where they seem past the point of no return. In this instance, however, Huppert never betrays Erika’s hidden problems until she’s seduced by the idea of finally finding love. Somehow her struggles seem completely plausible and all the more affecting because of it.
A big thumbs down to Kino for their R1 censored release though. Cutting the film by roughly seven minutes, the American DVD company put out an R-rated release to accompany its unrated version which was the cut the rest of the world had. While consumers certainly have the choice when purchasing the Kino release, large rental chains such as Blockbuster nearly always opt for the rated version and force unsuspecting customers to watch an abridged version when the complete one exists elsewhere. Apparently, the alterations include the blurring of adult video covers, edits to Erika’s peep show visit and the omission of the essential and devastating scene where Erika cuts herself with a razor in the bathroom. Furthermore, Kino has inexcusably failed to provide anamorphic enhancement to their widescreen transfer.
As they say about difficult and challenging films, both intellectually and emotionally, The Piano Teacher is not for everyone. The film itself isn’t disturbing in the vein of psychopaths or violence and it’s not the kind of movie you’ll get thrills from. Still, Haneke has filled it with troubling images and acts that, after investing in these characters’ lives for two hours, become nearly impossible to shake. Even though the main character is rife with problems often deemed abnormal or deviant, Huppert’s performance is so fully realized with humanity that I began to have real sympathy for her. It’s that humanity, something I found missing from Haneke’s other films, that makes The Piano Teacher so heartbreakingly effective.
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