Product: La Pianiste (Original French Version)
Rating: 5.0
Poetic, powerful, and disturbing
The Piano Teacher is a beautifully acted, wonderfully cinematic, and deeply disturbing masterpiece. It is quite unlike any other motion picture experience I have ever had.Isabelle Hubert is a brilliant actress and she absolutely shines in her role as a psychotic piano teacher who can't get what she wants, so goes out to ruin the life of others. The movie reveals this slowly and beautifully. I was impressed that there was no attempt at pop psychology or mediocre explanations that you would expect in a Hollywood melodrama with similar subject matter. The film is done in a simple, elegant, and gut-wrentching style, sure to fascinate and disturb, even if the film is hated in the end. Also worth mentioning is that Hubert's troubled but sympathetic character lives with her mother, in what has to be one of the most chilling mother/child relationships since PSYCHO.This is an exceptional film, thought-provoking, powerful, and strangely moving. It is not for those who can't face the dark side of human nature. It's far from being a life affirming "feel good" movie; it's a movie that is difficult to watch and raises plenty of questions. If the difficult subject matter of 'Irreversible' interested you, then this is your kind of movie. I enjoyed it immensely, as uncomfortable as I was watching it, and consider it a worthwhile, rewarding experience.The film has a haunting and disturbing finale, and is not always easy to digest, and therefore, it is not for all tastes. For fans of French or art-house cinema, this is definitely your cup of tea.Note: Stay away from the R-rated version, which goes so far as to blur out the video images in a porn shop.Grade A.