Product: La Pianiste (Original French Version)
Rating: 5.0
Outstanding Performance by Isabelle Huppert
DivaHerHighness wonders why everybody is speaking French in a film that takes place in Vienna. I'll take a stab at it. It's true that director Michael Haneke is Austrian, but my guess is the best actors in European cinema today are French. Isabelle Huppert is one of the best and she proves it by portraying the complex role of the piano teacher. Watch her commentary that is included with this film, which is in English. She explains that the theme of the movie is that the piano teacher is afraid of being hurt. She wants love but not seduction and thus wants to control the relationship with her student. I would bet that she speaks good German, but wouldn't you rather hear her speak French?This is my fourth Haneke film: three are in French and one is in German. Regardless of the language, they are all complex, intelligent films. I note some of the comments made by reviewers here: "twisted cinema", "a very unsettling world", "provocative perversions", "beyond weirdness", "holy crap" and much more. Sure, there is some nudity and unusual sexual behavior here. I would recommend that you not show it to your young children, but let's be adult here.Did anyone notice the beautiful music in this film, most notably Schubert's next to last piano sonata in A major D.959 and Schubert's piano trio in E flat D.929, which is also a recurring theme in Stanley Kubrick's great film Barry Lyndon.