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The Piano Teacher [2001] [DVD]
 
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The Piano Teacher [2001] [DVD]

DVD ~ Annie Girardot
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
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  • This item: The Piano Teacher [2001] [DVD] DVD ~ Annie Girardot

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Product details

  • Actors: Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch
  • Directors: Michael Haneke
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language French
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Artificial Eye
  • DVD Release Date: 27 May 2002
  • Run Time: 129 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00006422Z
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,574 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #81 in  DVD > DVD Bargains > The Best of World Cinema

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

An unexpected critical (Grand Prix at Cannes) and commercial (three months in London's West End) success on its release in 2001, The Piano Teacher is a provocative, but ultimately frustrating, film. The intensifying relationship between Erika Kohut, a Viennese piano teacher whose musical focus is gradually undone by sexual repression, and Walter Klemmer, her uninhibited but unsuspecting student and admirer, lacks an underlying motivation, either physical or emotional, to sustain the tortuous encounters of the film's later stages.

Director Michael Haneke powerfully evokes the claustrophobic décor of the flat that Kohut shares with her dictatorial yet ineffectual mother, with whom her relationship progresses from the pitiful to the farcical. And farce of the blackest kind is what the film descends to, as Kohut and Klemmer play out a vicious game of sado-masochistic control with an intriguing but indecisive conclusion.

Isabelle Huppert is magnificently assured as Kohut, but Benoît Magimel often seems confused as Klemmer, while Annie Girardot resorts to a caricature of the mother. Fans of classical piano will enjoy the masterclass and rehearsal sequences during the first hour, though music is then relegated to a minor role--its deeper relevance to the film being ultimately difficult to define. English subtitles are provided, and the monochrome shades in which the scenes abound come through with suitably wan intensity. Yet it's hard not to feel that a more profound inquiry into the darker side of sexual desire has been lost along the way. --Richard Whitehouse



Product Description

The Piano Teacher is a powerful and controversial drama from award-winning Austrian film-maker Michael Haneke (Funny Games, Code Unknown). Isabelle Huppert gives a performance of astounding emotional intensity as Erika Kohut, a repressed woman in her late thirties who teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory and lives with her tyrannical mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she has a volatile love-hate relationship. But when one of Erika's students, the handsome and assured Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel), attempts to seduce her, the barriers that she has carefully erected around her claustrophobic world are shattered, unleashing a previously inhibited extreme and uncontrollable desire.
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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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 (7)
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 (6)
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 (2)
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking, disturbing, yet brilliant, 26 Mar 2003
Make no mistake, this is not a film for the faint-hearted. It deserves it's '18' certificate. But it is nonetheless a superb film, an amazing depiction of loneliness, alienation and self-delusion. Even though I knew what was coming, it still shocked me and left me mentally gasping for breath. The most shocking thing of all, perhaps, is that the film is apparently much lighter in mood than the book it was based on!

Isabelle Huppert is superb as Erika Klohut, a woman alienated from life by her own fears and her elderly, utterly selfish mother. She is a brilliant pianist, but is so cold she could freeze a blast furnace. Huppert is amazing as she wanders through the film seeming as hard as nails, but underneath it all craving affection and something more. However, as she realises at the end, what she really craves is not what she thought. She is confused by her own sexuality and is way out of her depth in her relationship with Walter Klemmer (wonderfully realised by Benoit Magimel of 'Nids de Guepes' fame). She thinks she is in control, but it becomes very apparent to her that she isn't, and the end of the film is so sad it isn't true. Make sure you listen to Huppert's commentary on this.

This is a great film and one that will move you to the core. Klohut isn't likeable, and nor is Klemmer, but they are real people, and I think most of us certainly know someone like Klohut, although they may not be this extreme. This is great cinema, provocative yet terribly sad.

My only question is, what was she doing in the bath with that razor?!!!

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32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Romance, 14 Nov 2002
By Eric Anderson (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Michael Haneke has adapted Elfriede Jelinek's novel to create this disturbing psychological portrait of piano teacher Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert). Erika's claustrophobic life is filled with strict teachings and moral hypocrisy. She is a voyeur and masochist beneath her rigid exterior. Her life becomes desperate upon meeting a new student Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel). Their relationship becomes tumultuous when it becomes increasingly clear that she is incapable of nothing like a "normal" romance.
This tragedy is at many times shocking and is likely to make you squirm in discomfort over the deranged levels of Erika's mentality. While frequently repulsed, I felt an odd sympathy for her at times over the fragility of her being and her difficulty with expressing love. The cinematography of this film is bleak. The atmosphere seems glazed with an impersonality and stark indifference equal to that of Erika's spirit. The air is bizarrely punctuated with the beauty of the many musical recitals throughout the film. Director Haneke has been much criticised for this work (it has been dismissed as pretentious). Though not for the faint of heart or morally concerned, I found it strangely moving and engaging in the way it unsettles.
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing, disturbing, but ultimately worthwhile., 2 May 2002
Michael Haneke is a director of incredible power. Those who have seen his previous well known efforts (Benny's Video, and Funny Games) will have some idea what to expect from one of the few directors who tackles the subjects of violence in cinema seriously. Whilst the latter two examples focused on violence and its damaging effect on a society desensitised, here, with the Piano Teacher, Haneke explores themes and subjects that neither could possibly prepare you for.

The film is essentially an examination upon the notions of sexual perversity, oppression, and the constant battle for power between the sexes. To say more would only diminish the power of Haneke's storytelling which, as seen in his previous films, unfolds in a pseudo-documentary style of unflinching camera angles. There is no showboating from Haneke, he is not interested in flash cuts, or special effects. The camera is merely an observer, keeping the action (although incredibly brutal in parts) hidden from the audience. Everything shocking happens just out of view, or obstructed. The framing is exceptional. But for all its worth, praise must be given to its cast. Particularly Huppert who bares all in her performance which cries out for comfort and sympathy while also distancing herself from us with the extreme side of her perversions. It is performances like hers that deserve to be awarded and commended, brave unflinching performances in films which tackle uncomfortable topics. This is not a film for the light hearted. However, watched in the right atmosphere the intense emotional journey of "The Piano Teacher" will stick with you forever.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Not titilating in the slightest
For those who had unrequieted feelings for some coldly, stern but beautiful/handsome authority figure in their youth - this ain't the film for you. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Guinevere ffrench

3.0 out of 5 stars The Piano Teacher
Haneke or Jelinek,Erika or Huppert,Strauss or sex.Which ever you think is the uppermost in any of these pairings will decide what you think of the film. Read more
Published 6 months ago by technoguy

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar director, Stellar performances. Beautiful, yet disturbing film.
What a superb film. I've watched this film three times now, and am still dumbfounded by Michael Haneke's delicate precision to detail and stellar directorial skill... Read more
Published 6 months ago by a1ex8

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Isabelle Huppert performance makes this film. She is one the finest actresses in the world.
Published 7 months ago by Adroit

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking.

As one of the critics in the Observer I think said about this film---it is not easy to watch, and I completely agree----some scenes will make the soft-hearted squirm, and I... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Aesop

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Film.
Sigmund Freud (Psychiatrist) would have a field day with this severely mentally ill woman. Who was made this way by her spiteful controlling mother. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Edna Little

5.0 out of 5 stars playing on the tune of pornography

ISABELLE HUPERT WON THE BEST ACTRESS AT CANNES AND MAJIMEL WAS BEST ACTOR -THE DVD HAS A FEATURETTE AND THE AWARD CEREMONY TOO -
Life is a natural gift and art is an... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Dr. U. L. Khawaja

1.0 out of 5 stars The sort of film that gives world cinema a bad name
A slow, boring, pretentious and audience unfriendly film. To signify how important and un-Hollywood it is it has lots of scenes filmed in long static takes that are designed to... Read more
Published 21 months ago by BS on parade

1.0 out of 5 stars A complete waste of everyone's time
A repressed piano teacher who unaccountably still shares a bedroom with her mother embarks on a relationship with a besotted student but destroys it by demanding kinky sex. Read more
Published 23 months ago by M. G. James

5.0 out of 5 stars Huppert all the way
Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is a fortyish piano teacher with deeply repressed sexual feelings. She lives with her mother (Annie Girardot), a controlling, oppressive woman, and deals... Read more
Published on 31 Jul 2007 by C. O. DeRiemer

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