La pianiste (2001)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Michael Haneke

Writers:

Michael Haneke (writer)
Elfriede Jelinek (novel)

Release Date:

31 August 2001 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Plot:

A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher. |

Plot Keywords:

Piano | Deception | Teacher Student Relationship | Older Woman Younger Man | Broken Glass

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 12 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Isabelle Huppert	...	Erika Kohut
Annie Girardot	...	The Mother
Benoît Magimel	...	Walter Klemmer
Susanne Lothar	...	Mrs. Schober
Udo Samel	...	Dr. Blonskij
Anna Sigalevitch	...	Anna Schober
Cornelia Köndgen	...	Mme 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
Liliane Neiska	...	Secretary
Luz Leskowitz	...	Violinist
Viktor Teuflmayr	...	Pianist
Viviane Bartsch	...	Woman in drive-in (as Vivian Bartsch)
Florian Koban	...	Pupil
Thomas Auner	...	Haydn pianist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Noam Morgensztern	...	The first pupil (voice)
Vitus Wieser	...	Klemmer's Friend (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Haneke

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Haneke		writer
Elfriede Jelinek		novel

Produced by
Yvon Crenn	....	executive producer
Christine Gozlan	....	executive producer
Veit Heiduschka	....	producer
Michael Katz	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Francis Haines

Cinematography by
Christian Berger

Film Editing by
Nadine Muse
Monika Willi

Casting by
Kris Portier de Bellair
Markus Schleinzer

Production Design by
Christoph Kanter

Set Decoration by
Hans Wagner

Costume Design by
Annette Beaufays

Makeup Department
Françoise Andrejka	....	makeup artist
Fabienne Bressan	....	hair stylist
Ellen Just	....	makeup artist
Thi-Loan Nguyen	....	key makeup artist
Michaela Oppl	....	special makeup effects artist
Waldemar Pokromski	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Roman Haschberger	....	unit production manager
Michael Katz	....	production manager
Gebhard Zupan	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Katharina Biró	....	assistant director
Fritz Noltmann	....	assistant director
Hanus Polak Jr.	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Gerhard Dhor	....	construction crew (as Gerhard Dohr)
Peter Dörflinger	....	construction crew
Peter Ecker	....	props
Katrin Huber	....	property master
Fritz Martan	....	construction coordinator
Hannes Salat	....	props
Peter Wenhardt	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
Pascal Chauvin	....	foley artist
Pascal Dedeye	....	assistant foley artist
Othmar Eichinger	....	sound playback operator
Dominique Eyraud	....	boom operator
Jean-Pierre Laforce	....	sound mixer
Nadine Muse	....	sound editor
Guillaume Sciama	....	sound

Special Effects by
László Kovács	....	special effects coordinator
Hans Wagner	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Geoffrey Kleindorfer	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Rainer Barta	....	electrician
Stefan Biebl	....	Steadicam operator (as Stefan Bibl)
Petro Domenigg	....	still photographer
Peter Drittenpreis	....	assistant Steadicam operator
Katharina Frank	....	second assistant camera
Gerald Helf	....	first assistant camera
Regina Höllbacher	....	second assistant camera
Bernhard Pötscher	....	first assistant camera
Harald Staudach	....	assistant Steadicam operator
Reinhard Vince	....	electrician
Wolfgang Vince	....	gaffer
Jörg Widmer	....	Steadicam operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Brigitte Fink	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Yannick Coutheron	....	assistant editor
Alarich Lenz	....	assistant editor
Monica Parisini	....	assistant editor
Franz Rabl	....	color timer
Gabriele Sikuta	....	negative cutter

Transportation Department
Thomas Messer	....	property driver

Other crew
Roman Haschberger	....	location manager
Eva Jürgens	....	production trainee
Andreas Kispert	....	set manager
Ulrike Lässer	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• Arte
• Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
• Canal+
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Eurimages
• Les Films Alain Sarde
• MK2 Productions
• P.P. Film Polski
• Wega Film
• arte France Cinéma
• Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)

Distributors

• MK2 Diffusion (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• Kino International (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Madman Entertainment (2003) (Australia) (DVD)
• Alta Classics S.L. Unipersonal (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• ArtCam (2001) (Czech Republic) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Artificial Eye (????) (UK) (theatrical) (subtitles)
• CinemaFilm (????) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Cinemien (2001) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Concorde Filmverleih (????) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Europafilm AS (????) (Norway) (theatrical)
• Homescreen (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Kamras Film Group (2001) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Madman Entertainment (2002) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• New Star (2008) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Odeon (????) (Greece) (VHS)
• Rosebud (????) (Greece) (theatrical)

Special Effects

• Listo Video (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Les Audis de Boulogne  post-production
• Moviecam  camera equipment provided by

Also Known As:

Die Klavierspielerin (Austria)
The Piano Player (International: English title)
The Piano Teacher (International: English title)
Пианистка (Russia) [ru]
A Pianista (Portugal) [pt]
A zongoratanárnö (Hungary) [hu]
I daskala tou pianou (Greece) [el]
Klaveriõpetaja (Estonia) [et]
La pianista (Italy) [it]
La pianista (Spain) [es]
La profesora de piano (Argentina) [es]
Pianisten (Sweden) [sv]
Pianisten (Denmark) [da]
Pianistka (Czech Republic) [cs]
Pianolärarinnan (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Pianonopettaja (Finland) [fi]
Piyanist (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for aberrant sexuality including violence, and for language.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

Germany | Poland | France | Austria

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/18 | Ireland:18 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Italy:VM14 | Czech Republic:15 | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Brazil:18 | Canada:R | Finland:K-15 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria

Company:

Arte

Trivia:

The part of Erika's mother was originally offered to Jeanne Moreau

Movie Connections:

Features "Alphateam - Die Lebensretter im OP" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Piano Trio in E flat, D.929

Loneliness & Sexual Perversity make for disturbing bedfellows

First let me put on the record, Isabelle Huppert gives a dynamite performance which is both disturbing,and ultimately very sad. It is a hard film to watch as the subject matter is quite disturbing. It is not the Caffe Latte S&M of pretty young twentysomethings exploring their boundaries here, it delves into the true nature of sexual perversity. Her character is a middle aged loner, successful musician and teacher , but incapable of having any type of life let alone a functioning relationship.Her sex life is also one of unhealthy obsession involving frequenting sex shops, voyeurism and sexual self mutilation. It also gets revealed as the film progresses that she holds deeply disturbing sexual fantasies that involve humiliation and violence being committed upon her. When she becomes involved with a student who has become infatuated with her, and tries to achieve the emotional salvation she longs for by sharing these obsessions with the young man there is tragic results.

, Loneliness is a terrible burden to bear and part of the strength of the film is that the director, never reduces Huppert to a freak show. Her pain is apparent even though she is at many times a fairly odious (and occasionally downright psycopathic character) Hints of what has led her to this situation are given, the unhealthy co-dependant relationship she has with her mother, the perfectionism and driven nature that pervades her working life, madness in the family.In the end it doesnt really matter how it came about as it is an examination of a person in that state and how they fall apart both emotionally and mentally that is being examined here. There are many scenes which stayed in my mind long after the film ended: 2 particular scenes stood out for me:

The scene both embarassing,horrific and also incredibly sad as the young student reads with disgust a letter Huppert has written to him in front of her detailing her sadomashocistic fantasies that she harbours.We are torn between horror at the graphic nature of the degradation she fetishizes and feel sorry for the horrible and humiliating rejection she receives at the hands of the young student.

Also the gut wrenching final scene , the act of self mutilation and look of madness and despair on her face, the director has captured the despair and horror of so much of human existence.

An important film to see but dont expect to be uplifted!