Product: La Pianiste (Original French Version)
Rating: 3.0
Sickening but sometimes compelling.
Most viewers either love or hate this lurid and sometimes over-the-top examination of sexual disfunction and insanity, but I'm probably in the minority in that my ultimate reaction to it is...ehh.I don't need a film to be fully understandable to enjoy and appreciate it, but still I found this one as a whole defectively inconherent and unconvincing; specifically (spoilers ahoy) I didn't buy: 1) the locker room scene where Huppert in a big, big shift in previous tone and behavior gives herself to the jock; 2) her impromptu attempt to make love to her mother (ugh); 3) nor the "stab-to-the-heart" ending, which while jarring, is also highly disconnected -- looks to me it was just thrown in for shock value (or craftily, to get people to wonder and talk about it like any respectable artsy film would aspire to).However, this film *is* worth a look for the magnificent performance of Isabella Huppert and several unflinching and wrenching (and sometimes disgusting) scenes (not including those already mentioned) which will linger in your memory like limburger cheese on a full stomach. (People might also want to compare this film with Roman Polanski's 1960's _Repulsion_, with Catherine Deneuve, which I thought was a much more effective portrait of sexual repression and descent into madness.)My review here pertains to the R-rated VHS version; I have not seen the unrated version, which presumably contains more wretched excesses, like the vaginal mutilation scene, which is missing here.