The Piano Teacher (2001)

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Academy Award–winning Austrian director Michael Haneke shifted his focus from the social to the psychological for this riveting study of female sexuality and the dynamics of control, an adaptation of a controversial 1983 novel by Elfriede Jelinek. Haneke finds his match in Isabelle Huppert, who delivers an icy but quietly seething performance as Erika, a middle-aged piano professor at a Viennese conservatory who lives with her mother, in a claustrophobically codependent relationship. Severely repressed, she satisfies her masochistic urges only voyeuristically until she meets Walter (Benoît Magimel), a young student whose desire for Erika leads to a destructive infatuation that upsets the careful equilibrium of her life. A critical breakthrough for Haneke, The Piano Teacher—which won the Grand Prix as well as dual acting awards for its stars at Cannes—is a formalist masterwork that remains a shocking sensation.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

New, restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Michael Haneke, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with Haneke
New interview with actor Isabelle Huppert
Selected-scene commentary from 2002 featuring Huppert
Behind-the-scenes footage of a postsync session for the film featuring Haneke and Huppert
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by scholar Moira Weigel

https://www.criterion.com/films/28739-the-piano-teacher