The Piano Teacher

Play trailer

The Piano Teacher

R

Released Mar 29, 2002

1h 58m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

74%

Tomatometer

89 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...

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

Amy Taubin

Village Voice

I found The Pianist unpleasant but, as a case study of female desire, repression, and oedipal trauma, not at all outré.

Mar 31, 2020

Full Review

Empire Magazine

Rated: 4/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Eleanor Ringel Cater

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This is a penetrating, deeply disturbing examination of desire and loneliness, of desperation and self-denial.

Rated: A-

Nov 4, 2002

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

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

Mason M

I always know what I'm getting into when I watch a Michael Haneke film, and it's never very pleasant. The Piano Teacher may be cold, but Haneke's main strength in this film is that he's not scared to show us anything. This is full of the Haneke long take, where he can always find stunning angles where he never has to cut in a scene. This is a beautifully disgusting study of control and repressed desire, that will leave me thinking for a while to come.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/29/24

Full Review

julie b

The characters, the uncomfortably long shots, and the shifting power dynamics, all make for an unflinchingly disturbing movie. It’s well acted and well made, but definitely perverse slash twisted. The end had my jaw on the floor wondering what happened and for what exact reason. Also, some really perfectly controlled shots. Also also, was freaked out to realize this was the guy from the taste of things!! What!!! There were definitely many moments when I was wondering why someone said I would love this and begged me to watch this, and what that says about me. “You speak of things as if they were yours. That’s rare” “I am a pianist, not a poet”

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/19/24

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Michael Haneke

Director

Isabelle Huppert

Erika Kohut

Annie Girardot

The Mother

Benoît Magimel

Walter Klemmer

Anna Sigalevitch

Anna Schober

Susanne Lothar

Mrs. Schober

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

A Fine Bromance and 9 More Reasons Good Omens Makes a Great Binge-Watch

Neil Gaiman’s Five Favorite Films

Karen Gillan’s Five Favorite Films

View more photos

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: MK2 Productions, Centre National de la Cinematographie, Le Studio Canal +, Arte, Eurimages, Les Films Alain Sarde, 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