This film tells the story of a female piano teacher who has perverse fantasies towards her young student.The piano teacher seems like an ordinary woman, until her dark side is introduced. It is provocative and at times even disturbing. The scene in the video club is quite a shock to me. Then, the story builds on and goes even further. Yet, the ending is a great surprise. It is a provocative, disturbing and engaging film.

I so love the book by Jellinek, it's a masterpiece. Fantastic language ( Jellinek varies according to her books, some of it are too experimental for me : when proving that her characters 'are lost in translation 'and will never understand each othr, she de-composes her language into abstraction. But THIS one is written in a very emotional style, exactly the oppposite of what she shows her surrounding ( or in the film ) , then she is rigidly composed/repressed, don't forget this is not about the PIANISTE, but a deadly critique on her country Austria, and why they also censured her lots of times, it's about Austrian society + history ( the most repressed European country, very conservative, alwys been like this, and thus its artists ar the most extreme of Europee....!! always been like this, think of body-exprssionism-performances-with -blood-and -cuts in the 50-70s........ Anyway , the book is TERRIFIC, you are inside her mind, and bellieve me that's a humorous + very intelligent mind, of the PIANISTE, wicked monologue interieurs, and she kicks ass at her 'kiddo'too. The film I gave a 8. ( not my fav Haneke )

'The Piano Teacher' is a brutal exploration and analysis of a woman's fetishes and sexual urges. Erika is an anti-hero, she is not someone who evokes complete empathy, but the complexity of character makes her extremely interesting to analyse and interpret. Right from the very first scene Haneke establishes a very abusive relationship between Erika and her mother. The mother(who is never given a name to add to her persona) is an immensely overbearing woman who still has a huge hold and influence on the life of the middle-aged Erika. It is also hinted at that her father underwent mental disintegration which may have also had an impact on Erika's mental state during her formative years. It is slowly revealed that the sexual repression that Erika has had to live under due to her mother, has resulted in her developing various sexual fetishes like voyeurism which range from some interesting habits like frequenting porn stores to some absolutely disturbing habits like self-mutilations. She sees these somewhat twisted sexual fetishes as her way to defy the restrictions placed on her by her mother. However this narrow attitude of viewing sex as a means to defy her mother instead of a way to make love made her build a wall around her making her distant and immune to the possibility of developing any feelings for someone.'The Piano Teacher' for me revolves around the concept of control. Erika never had complete control over her life. Her sexual voyeurism and fetishes were her way to take some control back. Along with this she also overbearingly controlled the performances of her students which at times involved full-fledged intimidation. As soon as she starts developing feelings for Walter, we see her feel uneasy, very flustered and tentative. This is because opening up to him and revealing her complete self(along with her fetishes) to someone would involve giving away the bit of control that she wants. The dynamic between Erika and Walter in its progression and in the way the control shifts from one character to another, feels natural and considering the climax of the film, very believable due to the inherent risks that were always going to appear from Erika's point of view.Haneke doesn't engage in too much flashy camera like he did in 'Code Unknown' with the numerous long shots. The long unbroken shots are here too, but they are used sparingly for crucial scenes. Haneke uses a lot of subtlety in the way he treats the characters and the sensitive subjects with some examples of genuinely brilliant staging and direction of potentially risky scenes. Another thing that Haneke focuses on is close-ups and reaction shots of Isabelle Huppert, which brings me to Huppert's performance. This freaking woman has the ability to convey 25 different emotions with one single look or a subtle raising of the eyebrow or a subtle chuckle. She has the skill to be commanding as well as vulnerable at any moment and Haneke makes use of this with the close-ups and extended shots where the camera just rests on her face. This film will certainly not be as effective without that central performance. Benoît Magimel and Annie Girardot deserve admiration for their performances too.This is not a film for everyone. But the complexity of the characters and Haneke's uninhibited and piercing treatment of sexuality, control and power make this film worth a strong recommendation.

I have to confess I am a little wary of female authors, they can be often earthy and go way overboard with sexual things. But even I was unprepared for this poster child proving me right.I started watching the movie and thought well this might be interesting if a bit stuffy and pseudo intellectually arty. About that time Erika goes into a porno shop stall for dirty movies and takes soiled tissue out of the garbage can to smell it. Then she goes home and uses a razor on her genitals. At this point I pulled the plug on this thing.I am sorry---life is too short--I don't need these horrible images troubling my subconscious mind.How perfect the author won a Nobel prize. Nobel prizes for literature and peace are purely politically correct left wing absurdities.Totally toxic do not watch rent or anything but flee from this movie.The reviews for this film fall into 3 categories. The pompous pseudo intellectuals who write paragraphs praising it...the tough nothing bothers me people who say it was just boring...and the honest people who are simply disgusted by it.