Erika Kohut: Isabelle Huppert	Erika's Mother: Annie Girardot
Walter Klemmer: Benoit Magimel	Anna Schober: Anna Sigalevitch
Mrs. Schober: Susanne Lothar	Director: Michael Haneke

30 Second Bottom Line: A 40-something instructor at an exclusive music conservatory allows herself to become attracted to a student in his late 20's, after he makes sexual advances.

Story Line: The title of the film could be "Tip of the Iceberg," as what we first see is a reserved piano teacher who is the ultimate taskmaster with her students. When she is not running with the upper class, we soon learn that Erika (Isabelle Huppert) has non-standard ways of fulfilling her sexual desires. Early on it's clear that Erika and her mother (Annie Girardot) are at odds with each other. Mother is very controlling and the fact that they share the same bedroom says a lot about the relationship that we don't fully understand, other than getting to this point in time has been preceded by a lot of ugly moments.

Being admitted to the conservatory where Erika teaches is a rigorous exercise, in which many very talented people are not successful. At a recital, Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel) is on the verge of achieving a goal that perfectly illustrates the saying, "Be careful what you ask

for, as you may get it." Not only is he a gifted pianist who wants to become one of her students but Walter is attracted to "plain Jane" Erika. She senses what may be ahead and is alone among her colleagues who suggests that while Walter may have the technical talent to be among them, he is too old to begin a professional career. Bringing him in means that a more promising person will not be able to attend.

When Erika does respond to Walter's advances, what he gets is not quite what he had in mind. Glenn Close, in Fatal Attraction, was not obsessive as compared to what Erika demands. Walter is reluctant to go along but thinks that he can manage the situation. For him, there are new lessons to learn from an affair with an older woman.

The words "mad" and "pathology" come into sharp focus when we fully understand the relationship between students Anna (Anna Sigalevitch) and Walter as guided by Erika. Anna is a struggling student who is about to crumble until Walter comes to her aid. Seeing this and becoming jealous forces Erika to seek revenge against Anna, which leads to her "love" affair with Walter. Never before have the words "I love you" sounded so cold when delivered with such passion.

Tell Me More About It: The Piano Teacher won three major awards, to a chorus of boos, at the Cannes 2001 Film Festival; best actress (Huppert), best actor (Magimel and best film. Like the film Dancer in the Dark, with Bjork, Cannes awards are clearly not a popularity contest like the Academy Awards. As I watched the film, some of the eye and facial movements and demeanor of Isabelle Huppert struck me as being profound, much like Lena Endre from Faithless, who was a Cannes favorite against Bjork two years ago and my pick for best actress in 2001. Bjork won best actress at Cannes that year and many in the audience booed. Her style of acting along with the uncomfortable machinations of Bjork's character made Dancer an interesting but often uncomfortable film to watch.

The Piano Teacher deals with what is rather than why it is. Family Fundamentals, another recent release, is a documentary in which family members suggest a number of reasons why their kin are homosexual. Theories range from something being amiss with the paternal relationship, strong negative peer pressure, exposure to pornography, being the member of a dysfunctional family and on down through brainwashing by the media. While I don't agree with these reasons as "causes" of a person being a homosexual, there just might be something there to explain why the outwardly calm and conformist Erika has strong sexual desires that manifest themselves in the strangest of ways.

This is a disturbing film that was clearly meant to be that way. Self- mutilation, reckless sex that makes the lovemaking at the restaurant in Unfaithful a non-event, watching people make love in their cars at a drive-in movie and sharing the same bedroom with one's mother, are just a few of the startling turn-ons that turn up in this film. There's more but I'll leave that for your imagination, and if you can imagine it…oh, well.

Rather than a film about inappropriate sexual relationships, which I was expecting, it's about a sick mind. We have been conditioned to see men in the role of smooth on the outside but a bit mad when you peel back a layer or two. The only person who might understand why Erika acts the way she does is likely to be a psychiatrist. Webster's dictionary defines psychiatry as "the branch of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness." Erika has crossed the line but very few people know it.

The Piano Teacher is a powerful film for those with a strong stomach, and care to think about a movie from a psychological and pathological point of view. Going back to those reasons, the first one might have to be amended to paternal or maternal. Annie Girardot is a mother that I'm glad I did not have. Erika surely feels the same way. The Piano Teacher is a horror film for the art house crowd.