The Film (5/5)

    I spend a lot of time watching, writing  about, and discussing horror cinema.  In rough translation I spend a lot of time thinking about horror and what constitutes horror.   There are a lot of aspects of horror in cinema, and when I think of my own personal definition I think of more intimate  films that deal with protagonist that can dwell in the every day. Not serial killers, but people damaged by their everyday existence, who shows cracks just underneath their surface.  Other times they show the dark sides of domesticity, in this regards  though he himself would be loathe to admit it himself, but Michael Haneke is one of the most triumphant and successful of horror directors.

    The Piano Teacher stars the legendary Isabelle Huppert (Elle, Amour) as Erika a piano teacher at an upscale conservatory in Vienna. Erika lives a ridged restrained existence. Though deep into her 40's she shares an apartment and bed with her Mother, who seemingly still controls certain aspects of her existence. Her only escape is the occasional trip she makes to a porn shop/arcade where her presence tends to disturb the clientele, and she spends her time viewing videos in private viewing booths working out her private sexual desires by the video light. 

     That is until she meets young Walter, a new student, that is obsessed with her, and signs up for her class to impress her with his bourgeoning skills as a pianist, and of course to get closer to her. Walter, wants to be intimate with Erika, and in turn Erika begins to desire Walter, but Erika's desires are much different than anything Walter has been exposed to. Also, more than anything else she desires control, and refuses sex from him until she gains that control.

    This film is  the Isabelle Huppert show, she plays Erika as distant, cold, and repressed, but with an element that seems ready to come out and expose itself to the world. Whether that is a sexual desire needing to come out, or revenge against her Mother that repressed her during her life as it has been.  The more we see of her, and then her relationships with first her Mother, and then Walter she doesn't become less mysterious but more so. Her actions  make less sense, because we have been trained through mainstream cinematic conventions to expect a conventional sexuality or conventional revenge plotting none of which is depicted here.

   The Piano Teacher is an obvious influence on Darren Aronofsky's later Black Swan. With certain comparative elements being obvious, but the later Aronofsky piece being beholden to more typical cinematic and narrative conventions. Haneke does not allow the viewer such comfort, and ends the film with a certain disturbing, unknowing quality that will leave the audience discussing it for decades to come.

Audio/Video (4.5/5)

    Criterion presents Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher in a splendid  1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. The film has a very neutral color palette with a lot of white, and that is depicted well here. Grain is rendered naturally, band black levels are solid.

    Audio is French with English subtitles with a 5.1 DTS-HD sound mix. Everything here sounds quite solid with dialogue and score coming through nicely.

Extras (3/5)

    The Piano Teacher from Criterion includes new interviews with Isabelle Huppert and Michael Haneke. A select scene commentary by Huppert, and a behind the scenes documentary. We also get a trailer, and liner notes.

Overall

    The cinema of Michael Haneke has been slow to Blu-ray in Region A, so any of his films we can get is exciting.  The Blu-ray looks and sounds incredible, and has a decent slate of extras. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.