Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Piano Teacher

Play trailer Poster for The Piano Teacher R Released Mar 29, 2002 1h 58m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
75% Tomatometer 91 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Erika Kohut teaches piano at the Conservatory in Vienna. In her early forties, she lives at home, cooped up with her mother, whose influence Erika escapes only on her regular visits to porn cinemas and peepshows. Her sexuality is an affair of morbid voyeurism and masochistic self-mutilation. Erika and life travel separate paths. Until one day, one of her students gets it into his head to seduce her...
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

The Piano Teacher

The Piano Teacher

What to Know

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (91)
Kevin Maher The Times (UK) This is a film, European arthouse to its core, that seemed to look back at Hollywood’s “erotic thriller” boom — Basic Instinct, Body of Evidence, Eyes Wide Shut — and say: “Pah, that’s nothing.” Rated: 5/5 Jun 10, 2025 Full Review Danny Leigh Financial Times The film still holds the same fraught charge it did a quarter of a century ago. Rated: 5/5 Jun 9, 2025 Full Review Geoff Andrew Time Out Ambitious, profoundly articulate, and despite its avoidance of sentimentality and sermonising, very compassionate. Rated: 5/5 Jun 3, 2025 Full Review Susan Sontag Artforum Not Haneke’s best film, but Isabelle Huppert is stupendous. May 2, 2024 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Isabelle Huppert outdoes herself. Rated: 3/4 Oct 3, 2021 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 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. Rated: 5/5 Aug 31, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+)
TripleStryke B I cannot say I "enjoyed" The Piano Teacher in the typical sense, but it is an extremely good film. The story is disturbing and provocative in multiple ways and Huppert's acting was outstanding. If you like movies that let you interpret the underlying thoughts and motivations behind the main characters this is for you. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/04/25 Full Review Alyssa K I can’t say I enjoyed this movie or will ever watch it again, but it delivers what it claims to deliver. The acting, atmosphere, and music create an uncomfortable feeling throughout the whole movie, which in turn keeps the viewer engaged to see what is going to happen next. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/04/25 Full Review Marcia B I kept waiting for something more to happen in order to justify watching till the end. I found her cruel, desperate and thought she should be in a psychiatric hospital, not a teacher of young adults. Walter was so normal in his reactions to her. The ending was left to the viewer I suppose. Not knowing if she went to the Emergency room or she just went home. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/25 Full Review kurt s I guess it’s some sort of French artistic production. However, the movie makes absolutely no sense. She’s obviously a psychopath and needs professional counseling. He’s just a confused young man who gets hooked up with a crazy woman. I don’t see much sense of the movie. If you Want to waste two hours of your life By all means watch this movie. I kept expecting it to get better, unfortunately, it never did. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/25 Full Review Scott M Enjoyed it. A very cold and intellectual woman who is very repressed sexually. Usually these films are made about men, not women, so most people won't like this movie. I can't give it top marks because I felt like it was missing something. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/31/24 Full Review Maximo F This was one of the most unpleasant and booring things i have watched in my entire life Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 10/21/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Piano Teacher

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Michael Haneke

Director

Isabelle Huppert

Erika Kohut

Annie Girardot

The Mother

Benoît Magimel

Walter Klemmer

Anna Sigalevitch

Anna Schober

Susanne Lothar

Mrs. Schober

More Like This

View All
Intimate Strangers 85% 69% Intimate Strangers Watchlist All or Nothing 82% 81% All or Nothing Watchlist Ignorant Fairies 74% 89% Ignorant Fairies Watchlist The Man Who Cried 35% 59% The Man Who Cried Watchlist Alice and Martin 64% 48% Alice and Martin Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

The Piano Teacher

The Piano Teacher (2001) The Piano Teacher (2001) The Piano Teacher (2001) The Piano Teacher (2001) Benoît Magimel as Walter Klemmer and Isabelle Huppert as Erika Kohut in THE PIANO TEACHER. Scene from the film THE PIANO TEACHER. View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Erika Kohut teaches piano at the Conservatory in Vienna. In her early forties, she lives at home, cooped up with her mother, whose influence Erika escapes only on her regular visits to porn cinemas and peepshows. Her sexuality is an affair of morbid voyeurism and masochistic self-mutilation. Erika and life travel separate paths. Until one day, one of her students gets it into his head to seduce her...
Director
Michael Haneke
Screenwriter
Michael Haneke, Elfriede Jelinek
Distributor
Kino Pictures, Artificial Eye, Alta Classics S.L. Unipersonal, MK2 Diffusion
Production Co
Les Films Alain Sarde, Le Studio Canal +, Arte, MK2 Productions, Centre National de la Cinematographie, Eurimages, Arte France Cinema
Rating
R (Language|Aberrant Sexuality|Violence)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 29, 2002, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.0M
Runtime
1h 58m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
Most Popular at Home Now