The Piano Teacher
In this riveting study of the dynamics of control, Academy Award–winning director Michael Haneke takes on Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek’s controversial 1983 novel about perverse female sexuality and the world of classical music. Haneke finds his match in Isabelle Huppert, who delivers an icy but quietly seething performance as Erika, a piano professor at a Viennese conservatory who lives with her mother in a claustrophobically codependent relationship. Severely repressed, she satisfies her masochistic urges only voyeuristically until she meets Walter (Benoît Magimel), a student whose desire for Erika leads to a destructive infatuation that upsets the careful equilibrium of her life. A critical breakthrough for Haneke, The Piano Teacher—which won the Grand Prix as well as dual acting awards for its stars at Cannes—is a formalist masterwork that remains a shocking sensation.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Michael Haneke, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with Haneke
- New interview with actor Isabelle Huppert
- Selected-scene commentary from 2001 featuring Huppert
- Behind-the-scenes footage featuring Haneke and Huppert
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by scholar Moira Weigel
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Michael Haneke, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with Haneke
- New interview with actor Isabelle Huppert
- Selected-scene commentary from 2001 featuring Huppert
- Behind-the-scenes footage featuring Haneke and Huppert
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by scholar Moira Weigel
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Cast
- Isabelle Huppert
- Erika Kohut
- Annie Girardot
- The mother
- Benoît Magimel
- Walter Klemmer
- Susanne Lothar
- Mrs. Schober
- Udo Samel
- Dr. George Blonskij
- Anna Sigalevitch
- Anna Schober
- Cornelia Köndgen
- Gerda Blonskij
- Thomas Weinhappel
- Baritone
- Georg Friedrich
- Man in drive-in
- Philipp Heiss
- Naprawnik
- William Mang
- Teacher
- Rudolf Melichar
- Director
- Michael Schottenberg
- Teacher
- Gabriele Schuchter
- Margot
- Dieter Berner
- Singing teacher
Credits
- Director
- Michael Haneke
- Executive producers
- Yvon Crenn
- Executive producers
- Michael Katz
- Executive producers
- Christine Gozlan
- Produced by
- Veit Heiduschka
- Produced by
- Marin Karmitz
- Produced by
- Alain Sarde
- Adapted from the novel by
- Elfriede Jelinek
- Director of photography
- Christian Berger
- Edited by
- Nadine Muse
- Edited by
- Mona Willi
- Sound by
- Jean-Pierre Laforce
- Sound by
- Guillaume Sciama
- Costume design by
- Annette Beaufaÿs
- Set design by
- Christoph Kanter
A scene from The Piano Teacher
