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Here’s my review of the film, The Piano Teacher.
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Short filmTranscript
00:12hey guys hope you're doing well it's me bo back on the channel with yet another cult movie review
00:19in today's video i'm going to be taking a look at the erotic 2001 drama the piano teacher i first
00:29came across this movie when i delved into isabel huper's filmography and as i've said before she
00:38really is a fearless actress that's taken on some very challenging roles anyways the piano teacher
00:48stuck out to me it seemed like a pretty uh interesting story so i thought yeah why not
00:55let's uh check it out just before we get into the review guys if you haven't already please do
01:02consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so the piano teacher from
01:112001 was directed by the filmmaker michael hannick and was based on the 1983 novel by elfrid zelnick
01:21originally hannick wasn't meant to direct the film but due to some budgetary constraints
01:29he basically took over production in terms of the plot the movie followed a piano teacher called erica
01:39who lived in an apartment with her mother in vienna erica who was played by actress isabel huper
01:47lived a very mundane existence a very rigid lifestyle dedicating all her time to either teaching
01:58or playing the piano while on the outside yeah she seemed you know pretty normal internally
02:08she definitely was emotionally stunted she also had this a very volatile relationship with her mother
02:20who was played by actress annie gerardo this was pretty evident from the very start of the movie
02:28when erica returned home one evening to be immediately questioned on her whereabouts
02:35it was quite strange since erica you know wasn't this adolescent teenager no she was a fully grown woman
02:48yet her mother was you know treating her like a child anyways the two argued back and forth which
02:58eventually led to erica violently grabbing her mother's hair and pulling it out you know given this was a
03:08mother and daughter relationship i have to say it was uh you know pretty pretty disturbing to witness
03:17someone you know do that to their own family member yes we all have arguments with our parents i mean
03:27if we
03:27didn't we you know wouldn't be normal so it happens and you know you get over it but at no
03:34time should you
03:36you know put your hands on your family yes the two eventually made up but still attacking your elderly mother
03:48yeah that was just crossing the line and it definitely showed how unstable erica was
03:55we were soon introduced to the character walter klemmer a gifted pianist who immediately took a
04:03liking to erica the two met at a private dinner where erica was performing for the guests and walter
04:14didn't hold back in showing his admiration for erica's talent walter who was played by actor benoit
04:23major mel would later would later audition for a master class that erica was producing he was infatuated
04:31with her and he felt that it was the perfect opportunity for him to basically spend some time with her
04:40even though walter had the talent erica had a reservations about him joining her master class
04:48he was infatuated with her and she secretly was attracted to him you know that of course made sense
04:59because you had erica who was middle-aged no children not in a relationship and then came along walter this
05:10confident young guy who you know was giving her all this attention so walter was eventually accepted
05:17into erica's master class and pretty quickly the two began an affair but this affair would ultimately end
05:28in some tragic circumstances i mean you know taking a look at the moment they first you know were
05:37intimate with each other in the bathroom you had walter telling erica that he loved her she on the other
05:46hand
05:47acted way more cold and calculated and treated walter like some lap dog walter was obviously confused
06:01since he thought that the feeling was mutual but instead he got treated like a kid
06:09similar to how erica was treated by her mother you know it couldn't just be a normal
06:17boy-girl relationship no instead you had erica asserting control over walter and imposing her
06:28you know perverted desires onto him if they were going to get together then she was going to be in
06:35charge
06:36and you know with her you know taking control she actually subverted the conventional masculine role
06:46by inserting herself into that position but you know i must make the point that erica's dark fantasies
06:55they were not her sexual preference in fact they were a reflection of her internal shame erica liked the
07:06controlling aspect of the relationship that she had with walter she could now dictate what happened
07:16rather than being told what to do she liked having walter on a string like a puppet but you know
07:26playing with
07:27people's emotions is never a good idea and over time walter became despondent to all of erica's
07:37manipulation this would build up over time and eventually one evening he completely snapped he went berserk
07:48and assaulted erica in her apartment walter was tired of being messed around and not being taken
07:58seriously by erica he couldn't handle his emotions and in that moment started to attack erica and giving her
08:09a bloody nose a bloody nose but it didn't stop there after he had assaulted her physically
08:17he then decided to sexually assault erica it was a very ugly scene and you know once walter had finished
08:27it was like he was done with everything he was done with the relationship and he had basically wiped his
08:35hands
08:35of erica for good it was very depressing to see erica manhandled you know like she was and to also
08:46have
08:47her mother screaming behind a locked door yeah just you know very very disturbing i will have to say though
08:54what really stuck out to me was that there was no score being played in the background you know it
09:02was
09:02just this eerie silence and that definitely added some realism to the whole scene the final part of the
09:13movie saw erica and her mother attend the opening night of this performance that she had produced but
09:23while all the crowds were filtering inside the theater erica decided to wait outside so she could have a
09:31moment with walter she waited and waited and eventually walter showed up but when he did
09:42he said hello and pretended like nothing could ever happened he basically ignored her and left her in disbelief
09:55and at that moment she finally realized that she had been used and disregarded she was already a mentally
10:06unstable individual but with walter's rejection it tipped her over the edge we then saw erica remove a knife
10:18from her handbag and stabbed herself in her chest close to her heart while of course this was very shocking
10:29i must stress this was a cry for help i mean let's face it she was a psychologically broken woman
10:39who could only
10:41cope with her cope with her emotions through hurting herself and you see the self-inflicted stab wound
10:49wasn't the first time that we saw erica hurt herself you see there was a scene earlier in the film
10:57where erica was in the bathroom and she decided to pick up a razor blade now at first i thought
11:07she was you know just gonna remove some pubic hair but unfortunately things you know got a lot worse
11:16she purposely cut herself in her you know vaginal area and we saw the blood leaking
11:25it was just pouring out but then erica with no kind of reaction to the pain just started to
11:34clean everything up and carried on as normal this was of course another disturbing aspect of the film
11:43but i have to say this was a very honest depiction of what self-harmers do i don't want to
11:52get into too much
11:53personal stuff here as this is you know supposed to be just a movie review but as someone who's
12:02shared a similar journey to erica it totally makes sense that she would do what she did and then
12:10you know carry on as normal when you're in that crazed mindset you absolutely hate yourself
12:18you know you really do you have all these built up you know frustrations
12:23and aggressions and aggressions and even shame you know bubbling up inside and the only way to kind
12:30of get a release or to you know like take control of that is you know by hurting yourself and
12:39that's what
12:39erica did and once she had done that all the shame all the rage all the anger all the guilt
12:50it all just slipped away of course until the next time and besides the self-inflicted pain
13:00erica also had a very depraved sexual mindset that stemmed from her very rigid upbringing
13:10during the film we learned that erica's father had been sent to an insane asylum many years earlier
13:18and erica was left with her very controlling mother erica of course was a brilliant pianist
13:28but i have to ask the question you know at what cost because he was someone that dedicated their whole
13:37life made all these sacrifices to you know that specific profession but there was no relationships
13:45there was no children she was jaded and sexually repressed and there were a few scenes that exposed
13:56erica's perverted nature for example when she went to the sex shop to view some pornography she sat
14:06in a darkened room gleefully watching this pornography that was playing on the tv but what was really
14:14distressing was when she picked up a tissue a used tissue from the trash and smelled it that's pretty sick
14:25man you know so uh yeah i'm just i'm just grateful that when i was watching this movie i wasn't
14:32eating my
14:33dinner because uh i probably would have gagged in another scene we saw erica go out one evening and
14:43spied on a young couple having sex in a car at first she watched from a distance but eventually got
14:53closer
14:53and closer until the point that she was spotted and had to run away as i've mentioned this woman was
15:01mentally unstable but as the film progressed her antics you know her behavior it just became even more
15:10crazier and i would be remissed if i didn't talk about the most bizarre moment in the entire film when
15:19erica
15:21attempted to have sexual intercourse with her mother the two shared a bed together inside their apartment
15:29and one evening erica decided to randomly jump on her mother and accost her the mother was screaming
15:39trying to pull her daughter off i mean this was a real struggle and yeah a very dark scene to
15:48witness
15:49i mean at this point in the movie you know it was quite clear that erica was disturbed but even
15:58i didn't
15:59see that coming you know that level of depravity when it comes to the performances i want to give massive
16:07credit to isabel huper who stole the show with her performance as erica she really is a very talented
16:16actress who i don't think gets the credit that she really does deserve huper's portrayal of erica
16:26was very impressive and you know i've seen a lot of her films but i'm gonna say that this is
16:32probably
16:32the strongest performance i've ever seen her give actress annie girardo who played the mother i was
16:40also very good in her role playing alongside isabel huper yes the mother was controlling yes the mother
16:50should have allowed her daughter to live her own life but i still think that you know an elderly woman
16:58like she was she didn't deserve the drama that her daughter inflicted on her you know at the start of
17:08the movie i've got a really bad vibe from the mom i mean i really didn't like her at all
17:13she seemed
17:15overly you know like protective and it just didn't really make sense and as i said you know very you
17:20know controlling but as time went on my opinion changed and yeah i felt very sympathetic towards
17:32the character none of the characters in this movie were one dimensional you know everyone had layers
17:39including the mother and i think you know seeing a different side to her over time you know it was
17:46um
17:46some real nice character development so overall just a great job from girardo when it comes to the
17:54technical side of things it can't be denied that the piano teacher is a very elegant looking and
18:03well-made production one of the things i picked up on was how the cinematographer christian berger used a
18:12muted color palette lots of white blues and grays and that was of course to reflect the sterile world
18:23that erica lived in i also really liked the overhead shots you know the bird's eye view of the piano
18:31keys
18:32as people played this movie had a lot of musical production going on and it was important for the
18:41filmmakers to you know try different techniques to engage the audience and uh yeah that was a shot that i
18:49really really liked and saw dislikes for the piano teacher from 2001 my biggest dislike for the film would
18:59have to be its long drawn out slow pace now this movie ran for over two hours and all things
19:11considered yeah it really didn't need to be throughout the movie there were several sequences where the camera
19:21just seemed to linger and yeah it felt very very unnecessary especially when i think about the
19:30performances you know the musical performances within the movie a lot of that stuff really just dragged on
19:36and another moment that seemed to just linger on forever was the scene when erica gave oral sex to
19:45walter it must have lasted for well over a minute of him just standing there and erica's head just you
19:54know
19:54bobbing up and down you only needed like you know 10 seconds of that and then
20:01that's it cut away it's like okay oral sex we get it honestly a more condensed trimmed down version
20:13of the piano teacher would have improved my overall viewing experience i'm okay with scenes being drawn out
20:23if it's warranted but here it didn't feel that way it felt like the filmmakers were almost trying to be
20:32artistic when actually it just felt very forced and so ratings for the piano teacher from 2001
20:42i'm going to be rating this movie a solid 5.5 out of 10. the piano teacher was a film
20:50that
20:52explored some very harsh subject matters in a very uncompromising way it's a movie that delved into
21:01the complexities of human psychology sexual repression and power dynamics the visual style and slow pace
21:12definitely invoked a very unsettling atmosphere for the audience that had to
21:18confront the ugly side of human nature ultimately this was a very artsy type drama that won't be to
21:29everyone's tastes but with that said i also think that you still have to commend the filmmakers for
21:36bringing such a provocative story to the big screen if you've seen the piano teacher then please let me
21:46know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below as for people that haven't i would recommend
21:54this but be aware of the harsh subject matter if you're in the mood for some hard-hitting drama then
22:04yeah definitely give it a go but if you're after some escapism you know something light-hearted
22:11entertainment then i'd advise you to give this one a miss and well that's all from me today guys i
22:18do hope
22:18you've enjoyed this review of the piano teacher from 2001 i'll be back next week with yet another cult
22:26movie review please don't forget to like and subscribe and of course take care bye
22:41you
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