I think one of the main problems of this film is that it tries to create "fire under ice" by showing a possible counterpart to Erika Kohut's perversion: 'true love' or something like that. This is the purpose of the 'improvement' of Walter Klemmer's character, the only but decisive difference from the book's mainshape. This intent fails, necessarily as I think. The strength of Elfriede Jelinek's terrific novel consisted in his completely negative attitude towards sexuality, almost identifying its point of view with that of Erika - but as the latter was unbearable, too, and obviously sick, the reader had no choice except finding a solution in a complete negation of the space of the piece. Haneke, on the other hand, tries to tell the story didactically: We have to listen to shallow and stupid phrases like: "You are not able to love, Erika", "I won't feel anything" and so on, phrases that EXPLAIN something that was sufficiently SHOWN by Huppert's stunning performance and by the whole plot; while Benoits Klemmer is supposed to be the charming, 'sincere' boy who would do it all right if the piano teacher only let him. So, the whole thing becomes a boring tale about sickness and health, with health as the less convincing part. Possibly, this intelligent director did a mistake in conceiving the topic as a DRAMA instead of a baudelairean POEM; perhaps the problem is deeply generic and it was impossible to make a good movie from DIE KLAVIERSPIELERIN. However, the result is one that will confirm all fans of Mme. Huppert and disappoint the fans of Haneke's cinema.
Review of The Piano Teacher
