The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste) (2001)

NEUTRAL

Various

82%

2001, Drama, 1h 58m

RT Critics’ Score: 73% (UNBIASED)
RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
18 wins & 23 nominations total

Click to Stream

Critics Consensus

Though it makes for rather unpleasant viewing, The Piano Teacher is a riveting and powerful psychosexual drama

Audience Consensus

The Piano Teacher is like staring into an open wound, but in a good way? I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing. Isabelle Huppert gives an incredible performance as Erika Kohut, a piano teacher with some serious repression and oedipal trauma going on. It’s not a feel-good movie, but it’s definitely a thought-provoking one. And hey, if you’re looking for a gripping psychological thriller that’s a little different from the norm, this is the one for you. Just maybe don’t watch it on a first date.

Storyline

Erika Kohut is a pianist, teaching music. Schubert and Schumann are her forte, but she’s not quite at concert level. She’s approaching middle age, living with her mother who is domineering then submissive; Erika is a victim then combative. With her students she is severe. She visits a sex shop to watch DVDs; she walks a drive-in theater to stare at couples having sex. Walter is a self-assured student with some musical talent; he auditions for her class and is forthright in his attraction to her. She responds coldly then demands he let her lead. Next she changes the game with a letter, inviting him into her fantasies. How will he respond; how does sex have power over our other faculties?

Production Company(ies)
Cinema ’84 Euro Film Funding, Hemdale

Distributor
MK2 Diffusion, Artificial Eye, Alta Classics S.L. Unipersonal, Kino Pictures

Release Type

Filming Location(s)
Vienna, Austria

MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for aberrant sexuality including violence, and for language

Year of Release
2001

Technical Specs

Color:

Color
Sound mix:

Dolby Digital
Aspect ratio:

1.85 : 1
Runtime:

1h 58m
Language(s):

French, German
Country of origin:

United States
Release date:

Release Date (Theaters): Mar 29, 2002 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2007

Genre(s)
Drama

Keyword(s)
starring Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Anna Sigalevitch, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, directed by Michael Haneke, written by Michael Haneke, Elfriede Jelinek, drama, R rating, box office gross $1.0M, reviewed by Amy Taubin, Eleanor Ringel Cater, Roger Moore, Marta Barber, Terry Lawson, Michael Wilmington, Matt Brunson, Nicholas Bell, David Harris, Steve Erickson, Britt Hayes, psychosexual drama, Vienna, Conservatory, porn cinemas, masochistic self-mutilation, student-teacher relationship, loneliness, oedipal trauma, French (Canada), Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR, Flat (1.85:1), Isabelle Huppert as Erika Kohut, Annie Girardot as The Mother, Benoît Magimel as Walter Klemmer, Anna Sigalevitch as Anna Schober, Susanne Lothar as Mrs Schober, Udo Samel as Dr Blonskij, produced by MK2 Diffusion, Artificial Eye, Alta Classics S.L Unipersonal, Kino Pictures

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $6,766,589
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $11,403,654
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,930
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,243,583

US/Canada gross: $1,012,069
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,705,628
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,077
US/Canada opening weekend: $29,671
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $50,004
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,206

Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): ATS 70,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA

Cast & Crew

Isabelle Huppert

Annie Girardot

Benoît Magimel

Anna Sigalevitch

Susanne Lothar

Erika Kohut

The Mother

Walter Klemmer

Anna Schober

Mrs. Schober

Isabelle Huppert – Erika Kohut
Annie Girardot – The Mother
Benoît Magimel – Walter Klemmer
Anna Sigalevitch – Anna Schober
Susanne Lothar – Mrs. Schober
Udo Samel – Dr. Blonskij

Michael Haneke

Director

Writer

Producer

Director(s)
Michael Haneke

Writer(s)
Michael Haneke, Elfriede Jelinek

Producer(s)
NA

Film Festivals

Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
18 wins & 23 nominations total

Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Amy Taubin

Eleanor Ringel Cater

Roger Moore

Marta Barber

Terry Lawson

Village Voice

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Orlando Sentinel

Miami Herald

Detroit Free Press

THE PIANO TEACHER
All Critics (89) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (24)
I found The Pianist unpleasant but, as a case study of female desire, repression, and oedipal trauma, not at all outré.

March 31, 2020

Amy Taubin
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
This is a penetrating, deeply disturbing examination of desire and loneliness, of desperation and self-denial.

November 4, 2002 | Rating: A-

Eleanor Ringel Cater
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TOP CRITIC
It is depressing, ruthlessly pained and depraved, the movie equivalent of staring into an open wound.

September 19, 2002 | Rating: 2/5

Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
A gripping psychological thriller that, while lacking the power of Funny Games, is still the work of a master.

August 30, 2002 | Rating: 3.5/4

Marta Barber
Miami Herald
TOP CRITIC
It is as unlikely that you have ever seen another movie like The Piano Teacher as it is that you will ever want to see another one.

August 16, 2002 | Rating: 3/4

Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
TOP CRITIC
A striking, brilliant film with extraordinary performances — and Huppert’s acting is heartrending.

July 20, 2002 | Rating: 3.5/4

Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Isabelle Huppert outdoes herself.

October 3, 2021 | Rating: 3/4

Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
If perfection is the only exaggerated nomenclature with which to describe Haneke and Huppert’s sordid tango through considerations of submission and control, then it’s surely embodied here in the form of Erika Kohut, the piano teacher.

August 31, 2020 | Rating: 5/5

Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
The Piano Teacher is high art.

December 16, 2019

David Harris
Spectrum Culture
For a director who’s often raged against the manipulations of Hollywood, Haneke is as gifted a puppetmaster as Steven Spielberg.

February 20, 2019

Steve Erickson
Nashville Scene
The film veers into wildly compelling — and unsettling — territory.

February 20, 2019

Britt Hayes
Birth.Movies.Death.
Both director and actor were clear on their intentions from the start, and this alignment produced a movie that holds up as one of the best arthouse films of the last 20 years, with a nearly unmatched quiet kind of intensity.

May 11, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4

Eric Melin
Scene-Stealers.com…

Plot
Erika Kohut is a pianist, teaching music. Schubert and Schumann are her forte, but she’s not quite at concert level. She’s approaching middle age, living with her mother who is domineering then submissive; Erika is a victim then combative. With her students she is severe. She visits a sex shop to watch DVDs; she walks a drive-in theater to stare at couples having sex. Walter is a self-assured student with some musical talent; he auditions for her class and is forthright in his attraction to her. She responds coldly then demands he let her lead. Next she changes the game with a letter, inviting him into her fantasies. How will he respond; how does sex have power over our other faculties?

Trivia