Drama

The Piano Teacher

DramaMusicRomance

A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher.

Year

2001

Duration

2h 11m

IMDb

7.5

Trailer

Cast

Isabelle Huppert

Erika Kohut

Annie Girardot

The Mother

Benoît Magimel

Walter Klemmer

Susanne Lothar

Mrs. Schober

Udo Samel

Dr. George Blonskij

Anna Sigalevitch

Anna Schober

Cornelia Köndgen

Mme Gerda Blonskij

TW

Thomas Weinhappel

Baritone

Georg Friedrich

Man in drive-in

PH

Philipp Heiss

Naprawnik

WM

William Mang

Teacher

RM

Rudolf Melichar

Director

MS

Michael Schottenberg

Teacher

GS

Gabriele Schuchter

Margot

Dieter Berner

Singing teacher

VW

Volker Waldegg

Teacher

MR

Martina Resetarits

Teacher

AS

Annemarie Schleinzer

Teacher

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Comments

10 comments

DBMay 2, 2026

1:6:45 not * but

🍫🖤Mar 13, 2026

nardosSep 12, 2022

This film is simply boring, as are perversions, fixations and all that stuff that in general interests solely psychoanalists,and that because they get paid to listen to such idiotic craziness. Huppert is OK in this horrid movie, nevertheless I would not save her from the blast. This film is garbage.

@latifaSep 12, 2022

very well directed and acted; lots of creativity in the details of the plot -- BUT at bottom just a completely trite and predictable tale of the sexually repressed spinster who can't handle the conflicts in her life and goes crazy. By about half way to the end, it clearly had to end either in her death or her committment to an insane asylum (as, we are informed, happened to her father!!). This is nothing but a well-done exploitation flick, trading on the soft porno scenes to attract an audience. Anyhow there was a lot of nice music from time to time...

user366274153422Sep 12, 2022

One of the most intense films I've seen in a very long time. Hupperts performance stands out and is in my opinion, together with Charlotte Rampling''s performance in 'Sous le Sable', one of the year's best by a female.

BEBITOSep 12, 2022

I read the reviews of this movie, and they were generally pretty good so I thought I should see it. I'm a big Francophile and art film lover, but I believe this is yet another case in which the critics make something "arty" or "intellectual" into something it is not. I will be blunt: it contains scenes of sexual perverseness that I never, ever wanted to actually see. Obviously, the piano teacher has some major psychological issues, but I really did not want to see them displayed so graphically. The film is, in essence, disgusting. I mean, when I saw Requiem for a Dream, I was repulsed by the last sort of scene with Jennifer Connelly, but that was not anywhere near the sort of disgust and repulsion I felt during this film.

Yalice KoneSep 12, 2022

The Piano Lesson is based on Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek's book of the same name. I didn't read the book but I am curious to read it. The story is about a mature piano instructor played beautifully by the French actress, Isabelle Huppert. She lives with her mother in a small Vienna apartment. The character of Erika, the piano teacher, slowly unwinds as her need for love and control intertwine in her life. She meets Walter Kemmler, a young handsome hockey player student, who changes her life and offers her a chance at some pretty repulsive sexuality. Despite her appearance as a prim and proper piano teacher, she harbors deep sexual desires towards bondage and masochism in which she wants her students to fulfill. Her relationship with her mother is even more bizarre at one point in the film. This film is not easy to watch at times and don't expect a happy ending but it's a great French film in looking at the psyche of a trouble woman.

LP Shimwetheleni 🇳🇦Sep 9, 2022

A movie full of vile, nasty characters. The Piano Teacher is not engaging in any way. The direction is poor, the script is awful. This film may have been slightly more interesting if it was about 25 minutes shorter, maybe they could have cut the soft *, that must have included purely to spark controversy. Boring & sick. Avoid 2/10.

ASAKESep 9, 2022

This film is really heavy. The piano teacher is so sick you can cry, and the golden boy is not so golden after all. I really felt miserable during the film. It is not boring at all, but be prepared. It was a good film, and the actors were really great. But still, it was too heavy for me.

sophia 🌹Sep 9, 2022

Well, the artyfartyrati of Cannes may have liked this film but not me I am afraid. If you like the type of film where shots linger for so long that you wonder whether the actor has fallen asleep or the cameraman gone for lunch then it may be for you. A large part of it is like this with short sojourns into the realm of unpleasantness. I did not find it shocking nor disturbing as some other reviewers have - simply a little distasteful and pointless. The only reason I did not give this one star is that the acting is commendable ans the film is fairly well shot. The plot, however, has little to recommend. A large part of the film just shows a grumpy woman teaching or listening to piano, which might appeal to some people. But lest you think this is harmless enough be prepared for some snatches of * and sexual violence just to wake you up with a bad taste in your mouth. Not recommended.