The Piano Teacher (2001)
Coming Out at 31 August 2001 in theaters.
“La pianiste”
Drama
The Piano Teacher is erotic drama film, written and directed by Michael Haneke, that is based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Elfriede Jelinek. It tells the story of an unmarried piano teacher at a Vienna conservatory, living with her mother in a state of emotional and sexual disequilibrium, who enters into a sadomasochistic relationship with her student. A co-production of Austria and France, Haneke was given the opportunity to direct after previous attempts to adapt the novel by filmmakers Valie Export and Paulus Manker collapsed for financial reasons.
At the 2001 Cannes Film Festival it won the Grand Prix, with the two leads, Isabelle Huppert and Benoît Magimel, winning Best Actress and Best Actor. It went on to receive positive reviews and other awards and nominations.
Erika Kohut is a middle-aged piano professor at a Vienna music conservatory who resides in an apartment with her domineering elderly mother. Her late father had been a long-standing resident in a psychiatric asylum. Despite Erika’s aloof and assured façade, she is a woman whose sexual repression and loneliness is manifested in her paraphilia, including voyeurism, sadomasochistic fetishes and self-mutilation.
Director: Michael Haneke
Writers: Michael Haneke, Elfriede Jelinek (novel)
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch, Cornelia Köndgen
Cast:
| Isabelle Huppert | … | Erika Kohut |
| Annie Girardot | … | The Mother |
| Benoît Magimel | … | Walter Klemmer |
| Susanne Lothar | … | Mrs. Schober |
| Udo Samel | … | Dr. George Blonskij |
| Anna Sigalevitch | … | Anna Schober |
| Cornelia Köndgen | … | Mme Gerda Blonskij |
| Thomas Weinhappel | … | Baritone |
| Georg Friedrich | … | Man in drive-in |
| Philipp Heiss | … | Naprawnik |
| William Mang | … | Teacher |
| Rudolf Melichar | … | Director |
| Michael Schottenberg | … | Teacher |
| Gabriele Schuchter | … | Margot |
| Dieter Berner | … | Singing teacher |
| Volker Waldegg | … | Teacher |
| Martina Resetarits | … | Teacher |
| Annemarie Schleinzer | … | Teacher |
| Karoline Zeisler | … | Teacher |
| Liliana Nelska | … | Secretary |
| Luz Leskowitz | … | Violinist |
| Viktor Teuflmayr | … | Pianist |
| Viviane Bartsch | … | Woman in drive-in |
| Florian Koban | … | Pupil |
| Thomas Auner | … | Haydn pianist |
| Andreas Donat | … | Chopin Pianist |
| Gerti Drassl | ||
| Klaus Händl | ||
| Erika Kollmann-Till | … | |
| Nina Kripas | ||
| Esther Pils | ||
| Petra Reichel | ||
| Arbesi Sufi | ||
| Marcus Zeuner | ||
| Hans-Christian Haas | … | Man Listening to Concert |
| Noam Morgensztern | … | The first pupil (voice) |
| Lisa Olah | … | Sex shop girl |
| Vitus Wieser | … | Klemmer’s Friend |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia