SYNOPSIS
Based on Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek’s novel “Die Klavierspielerin.”
Winner of three major awards at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, The Piano Teacher features a tour-de-force performance by Isabelle Huppert as Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed music professor who becomes obsessed with one of her young students (rising European actor Benoit Magimel).
Length: 2:05 Rating: NR
List Price: $29.95 | Our Price: $22.00
Lonely and alienated in her forties, Erika lives with her controlling mother, finding solace only by visiting porn shops and vicariously experiencing her sado-masochistic fantasies. Without a trace of sentimentality or prurience, director Michael Haneke (Funny Games, Code Unknown) delivers a brilliant psychological portrait. The film features one encounter that The New Yorker considered “may be the strongest sex scene in the history of the movies.”
Critical Acclaim:
“Huppert gives one of her greatest screen performances, requiring her to plunge into territory only the most courageous actors would dare to inhabit.” – Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“The most controversial European art movie of the season…a tour de force role for Isabelle Huppert!” – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice
“Not since Salò have we had a shocker like this. Isabelle Huppert is God.” – John Waters, Film Comment
Extras on DVD:
•Exclusive interview with Isabelle Huppert
•Original theatrical trailer
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Annie Girardot, Benoit Magimel, Dieter Berner, Georg Friedrich, Isabelle Huppert, Udo Samel, Vivian Bartsch
Countries: Austria, France
Genres: Cult, Kino Essentials
Type: Color
Year: 2001
Language: French w/English subt.
Length: 125 mins.
Asp.Ratio: 1.85:1