Thursday, November 19, 2015

THE PIANO TEACHER (2001, AUSTRIA)

FILMS FROM THE 21st CENTURY
(Post 7 of 50)

Some quick takes on the most relatively recent listings from the
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list


The major conflict of The Piano Teacher is the duality between a woman named Erika who is classically trained in the arts but has secret sexual desires, many involving sexual masochism and humiliation. I don't know if we are supposed to sympathize with her, as we do  feel bad about parts of her upbringing, but we can't excuse some of the things she does either. But I think that's the point, our feelings toward her are not black and white and the film addresses these points. I did find the look into that duality as being very interesting, if often unpleasant.

2 comments:

  1. uff, this one turned really nasty. This is a woman with some serious issues and the most unfortunate choice for helping her out. The start of the movie was okay, but the second half got increasingly difficult to watch.

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  2. I agree. This is one of many films on the 1001 list that I'm glad I saw once, but probably won't want to see again.

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