This film is not an enjoyable watch. It deals with an incredibly difficult character in Erika Kohut; the titular piano teacher whose oppressive relationship with her mother has ruined her ability to relate to anyone else. Her world is thrown into chaos when Walter Klemmer, a young musician, takes a romantic interest in her. Her previously hidden sexual proclivities, which are hardcore, come to the surface, as does her jealousy at others' musical skill. As I said, the unpleasantness of the characters makes this hard to watch, but I also couldn't helped being impressed by the film.
Most of that comes down to Isabelle Huppert's performance as Erika. The character is one of extremes, going from almost icy stillness to strong desire. Huppert shows us these changes with the smallest of gestures - sometimes it is just with the intensification of a stare. For the first part of the film she is largely cold, though you feel sympathy for her because of her overbearing mother. Then you discover her desire for hardcore sex, and feel slightly repulsed. I was hoping that her relationship with Walter would be a positive thing, but it being a Haneke film, Erika's vulnerability is rewarded with yet more pain and humiliation.
The hardest part of watching this was the violence that lurks in several scenes, the worst for me being the self-mutilation scene. If you've seen it, you will understand why I felt light-headed and crossed my legs, recoiling at what I saw. Even thinking of it now makes me queasy.
I didn't 'like' this per se, but I couldn't help but admire Huppert's skill, and Haneke's overall direction. The flatness of the light throughout the whole drains the colour from this world of competition and repression. The passion and beauty of the music played throughout is made ironic by Erika's own particular passions, which are not beautiful, nor is her understanding of human relationships. This is one of those films I would not recommend to everybody, or to most people, but if you think you can withstand the pain at its centre, it is worth watching.
Your last paragraph here pretty much sums up how I feel about both Huppert and Haneke in general. Huppert has a talent for playing unpleasant, awful characters extremely well, and Haneke's films are the sort that I don't enjoy watching, but that I am always glad to have watched. The Piano Teacher falls into that category in all cases.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I won't ever watch this again, but am unlikely to forget it either. I can't imagine anyone else playing Erika, a sign of Huppert's skill.
DeleteI watched this movie years ago and was completely unprepared for it. Today I know Haneke is a cinematographic sadist, but back then it sounded like an easy movie with an edge. It is not an easy movie. In the beginning she is simply a woman with a unusual interest in kinky sex, but as it progresses we learn that this is a lot worse. She is a complete mental wreck, entirely unable to enter into a human relationship of any kind. Ugh, that is a blow to the stomach. Haneke, you bastard!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Its hard when you misjudge films before watching them - what a shock to the system! This is certainly not the film to introduce yourself to Haneke with (unless you like jumping straight into the deep end).
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