Review of The Piano Teacher (2001) by A.j. S — 28 Jun 2010
Michael Hanekeâ??s visceral and unforgiving film explores the horrors of hidden desire and the sadness that a life of rejection can invoke. Haneke maneuvers through this psyche of a woman who is under the control of her overbearing mother with the best of those who explore such depths.
Obviously digging deep, in that she must access feelings no person would ever wish to go, Isabelle Huppert is mesmerizing as the protagonist who has more demons than you could shake a stick at. She easily flows from the most cold-hearted, conservative intellectual imaginable to an insatiably distraught woman void of any control.
Her counterpart, and often contradiction at every experienced level, Benoît Magimel is as charming as he is eventually sinister. Nobody is who they appear to be in this beautifully shot character study of those who separate their public and personal lives so successfully.
It is the kind of film that makes you wonder what kind of mind could come up with such components that would only be consciously accessed at your weakest point. Such experiences are only out to harm the audience in the most loving way and the â??The Piano Teacherâ?? does so with the utmost care.
This review of The Piano Teacher (2001) was written by A.j. S on 28 Jun 2010.
The Piano Teacher has generally received very positive reviews.
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