Review of The Piano Teacher (2001) by Stuart B — 26 Jan 2012

Michael Haneke's brutal and disturbing psychological drama, which, despite it's glaringly intense and depraved premise, was utterly compelling and involving. The story focuses on a middle aged lady who lives in an apartment with her overbearing mother while tutoring in a prestigious college for the performing arts to get by. The film follows the nature of how she begins a romantic engagement with one of her students, but as she deals with such a corrupt upbringing and the loneliness of her life, the relationship twists into something quite disturbing.

Obviously this is not a 'fun' movie, you don't come out of it feeling that great, but for the performance of Isabelle Huppert (which is phenomenal beyond belief - really taking the intensity of her role to the extreme) and Haneke's cold examination of such a twisted relationship with sharp cuts and freeze frames, it deserves great respect. At times it reminded me of Cronenberg's Crash, while also there were moments which were obviously influential on Black Swan, but this is a truly unique movie, one which will deeply affect you and ask questions of you. Definitely not a movie you will forget any time soon.