|
How far is a man willing to go to be with the woman he wants? Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is a veteran piano instructor at a famous music conservatory in Vienna. Erika is highly respected for her remarkable talent and strong discipline, but she's also known to be a harsh taskmistress and does not suffer fools gladly; among her students, Erika's class is considered a highly rewarding challenge, but difficult to weather. Erika seems to get her stern and unforgiving nature from her mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she still lives, and without a husband or a lover, Erika satisfies her strong but frequently perverse sexual appetites through extreme porn videos, voyeurism, and masturbatory practices that sometimes involve pain and self-mutilation. Erika discovers she has attracted the attentions of one of her students, Walter (Benoit Maginel), a gifted and good-looking young man who does not seem at all put off by her icy personality. She refuses to acknowledge Walter's romantic overtures, but when he rises to the defense of a fellow student after a recital, Erika is enraged, and Walter pursues her, finally following her as she storms off to the women's room. Erika abruptly approaches Walter in a rough sexual fashion, but refuses to fully satisfy him until he is willing to allow her to control the relationship. When Walter becomes aware of just how much pain and humiliation is involved in Erika's erotic bill of fare, he refuses to participate, but in time his attraction to her causes him to weaken, and he begins to accede to her sexual demands. La Pianiste was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Maginel were named Best Actress and Best Actor, and writer/director Michael Haneke received the Jury's Grand Prize.
CONDITION: NEW
Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Benoit Magimel
Directors: Michael Haneke
Format: AC-3, DTS Surround Sound, Restored, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: French
Subtitles: English
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Rated:
R
Restricted
Studio: Criterion Collection
DVD Release Date: September 26, 2017
Run Time: 130 minutes
Cast & Crew
Isabelle Huppert Erica Kohut
Annie Girardot The Mother
Benoît Magimel Walter Klemmer
Susanne Lothar Mrs. Schober
Udo Samel Dr. Blonskij
Technical Credits
Michael Haneke Director,Screenwriter
Christian Berger Cinematographer
Yvon Crenn Executive Producer
Christine Gozlan Executive Producer
Veit Heiduschka Producer
Christoph Kanter Production Designer,Set Decoration/Design
Marin Karmitz Producer
Michael Katz Executive Producer
Nathalie Kreuther Executive Producer
Jean-Pierre Laforce Sound/Sound Designer
Nadine Muse Editor
Alain Sarde Producer
Guillaume Sciama Sound/Sound Designer
Monika Willi Editor
|