Dir. Michael Haneke, 2001, 131 min, DCP
With Isabelle Huppert, Benoît Magimel, Annie Girardot, Susanne Lothar
In French and German with English subtitles

Based on the novel by Nobel prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher features Isabelle Huppert in the role of Erika Kohut, a repressed Viennese piano teacher torn between a domineering mother and her sadomasochistic relationship with a young pianist.

One of her greatest performances, Huppert’s utterly fearless blend of cruelty, desire, and vulnerability verging on madness was recognized with the Best Actress Prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. This first collaboration with director Michael Haneke, a leading chronicler of contemporary alienation, established Huppert as the most fearless actress of her generation.

“Isabelle Huppert gives one of her greatest screen performances as Erika Kohut, a haughty, sexually repressed priestess of high culture in Michael Haneke’s powerfully disquieting film, The Piano Teacher.”
— Michael Haneke