Beyond Weirdness
Added 6/29/2009
This subtitled film portrays the emotional deterioration and sexual perversions of an otherwise gifted and attractive professor of music. Includes scenes of mother-daughter incest, genital self-mutilation, suicide and recurrent sadomasochism. Despite all of this rarely seen pathology, this is very little excitement or entertainment value inherent in this film. Needless-to-say, a bit on the depressing side.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Intelligent drama with disturbing subject matter
Added 6/12/2009
Haneke captains another efficacious look into the human psyche with this compelling drama. His vessel of choice this time around is Isabelle Huppert and his voyage takes us far out into unchartered waters where most other captains fear to sail. Haneke leaves port and allows the passengers to gain understanding and appreciation for his vessel. She is small yet highly respected amongst her peers. Despite being built under assumingly harsh conditions her exterior is tough and she is built for the icy waters she frequents. Once our captain has sufficiently displayed the outer of his vessel and gained our respect, he then takes us below deck for a rare exhibit of the ship's viscera. What we see is distressing and unpleasant, however Hanke's ship has sailed and we are now headed for turbulent waters.
Huppert gives a brilliant performance as the piano teacher. She beautifully executes both the character's controlled exterior as well as her hauntingly troublesome interior. Haneke's direction is focused and he delivers an unyielding character study that's potent and believable. This voyage is not for the weak of heart. Many will find the subject matter disturbing, and rightfully so, but it would be difficult to deny this masterfully created film the merit it deserves. I almost rated this film five stars instead of four, but I have difficultly giving the highest marks to a film I never plan to see a second time.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Generally unpleasant, and often worse
Added 1/26/2009
A cold, emotionally-repressed piano teacher under the thumb of a domineering mother finds release in a variety of inappropriate, unhealthy ways, including peeping into the car window of a young couple being intimate at a drive-in movie and smelling dirty tissues from the trash can of a porn shop video booth. Apologies for being so graphic, but potential viewers should be alerted about what they're getting here. Eventually, the teacher's actions escalate from the inappropriate and mildly criminal activities described to psychotic episodes including the maiming of one of her students.
To be fair, the movie is well acted, somewhat interesting, and never becomes boring (the worst sin of a creative work, in my opinion), but in the end the unpleasantness, grossness and endless depressing scenes outweigh the artistic value of the piece, making the film an ordeal to finish. Obviously, other reviewers here on Amazon feel differently, but this is my take. And, if you check out my other reviews, you'll see that I don't need a film to be light and feel-good to enjoy it.
There's a twenty-minute interview with actress Isabelle Huppert on the DVD, where she says that the crux of the film is the main character's desire to be loved in an old-fashioned way ("like something out of a nineteenth century novel") in a world where men only want to seduce her. "Really?" I said to myself, "but how does that explain her desire to be tied up and beaten, as well as the premeditated criminal maiming of her student?" I guess I've gotten out of practice with French cinema from the days when I used to enjoy Truffaut films.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Pointless Movie!!
Added 1/24/2009
I was sold when I saw how many ratings this proclaimed 5 star movie it had received but to my disappointment, it was just a waste of time and money. If you really want to see a good movie about a piano or pianist with a good story to it then I recommend "The Piano".
This movie was somewhat sickening and pointless. There was no real good story behind the movie. Just 2 puzzling demented sicko's who's only purpose was to make you vomit and throw that movie away. I'd like to give a synopsis about the movie but the truth is, is that there's really no good plot to talk about a synopsis.
Do yourself a favor and skip this movie. You'll save time and money. Not all 5 star movies have earned their stars.
0 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Sexual Perversity in Vienna
Added 9/20/2008
It's hard to say what this film is about. The plot has been repeated by others. In summary, the piano teacher follows her sexual fantasies down a path that leads to her destruction. It is as others have said a disturbing film, but for me this is not a compliment. There is little in the film worth taking away. The teacher herself is not especially interesting. She is abusive, mean-spirited, aggressive and destructive as a teacher. She maims one of her charges because the young girl dares to smile at the teacher's new sex toy, a young stud who has convinced himself, unconvincingly, that he loves his tyrant teacher. She is not just perverse; she is criminally insane. Her mother, who is every bit as sick and twisted, is a sexual voyeur and tormentor who exploits her daughter's bizarre sexual predilections which include porn shop cruising, drive-in movie peeping, and self-mutilation. Once she gets her hands on her new charge, she presents him in writing with a list of perverse demands. The handsome boy realizes that he is dealing with a sicko and runs for the hills. She stabs herself. I got little out of watching this mess. Who's to know what it all means or what the author intended. I came up with the idea that this "World" is meant to be "Vienna," Europe's literal or symbolic music capital, a city of beautiful music and the birthplace of Hitler and the author, even though Paris has been used as the film's setting by the director. These two "sides" of Europe seem to coexist, according to the author, but we are given no hint as to what one is meant to do with this knowledge.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Beyond Weirdness
Added 6/29/2009
This subtitled film portrays the emotional deterioration and sexual perversions of an otherwise gifted and attractive professor of music. Includes scenes of mother-daughter incest, genital self-mutilation, suicide and recurrent sadomasochism. Despite all of this rarely seen pathology, this is very little excitement or entertainment value inherent in this film. Needless-to-say, a bit on the depressing side.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Intelligent drama with disturbing subject matter
Added 6/12/2009
Haneke captains another efficacious look into the human psyche with this compelling drama. His vessel of choice this time around is Isabelle Huppert and his voyage takes us far out into unchartered waters where most other captains fear to sail. Haneke leaves port and allows the passengers to gain understanding and appreciation for his vessel. She is small yet highly respected amongst her peers. Despite being built under assumingly harsh conditions her exterior is tough and she is built for the icy waters she frequents. Once our captain has sufficiently displayed the outer of his vessel and gained our respect, he then takes us below deck for a rare exhibit of the ship's viscera. What we see is distressing and unpleasant, however Hanke's ship has sailed and we are now headed for turbulent waters.
Huppert gives a brilliant performance as the piano teacher. She beautifully executes both the character's controlled exterior as well as her hauntingly troublesome interior. Haneke's direction is focused and he delivers an unyielding character study that's potent and believable. This voyage is not for the weak of heart. Many will find the subject matter disturbing, and rightfully so, but it would be difficult to deny this masterfully created film the merit it deserves. I almost rated this film five stars instead of four, but I have difficultly giving the highest marks to a film I never plan to see a second time.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Generally unpleasant, and often worse
Added 1/26/2009
A cold, emotionally-repressed piano teacher under the thumb of a domineering mother finds release in a variety of inappropriate, unhealthy ways, including peeping into the car window of a young couple being intimate at a drive-in movie and smelling dirty tissues from the trash can of a porn shop video booth. Apologies for being so graphic, but potential viewers should be alerted about what they're getting here. Eventually, the teacher's actions escalate from the inappropriate and mildly criminal activities described to psychotic episodes including the maiming of one of her students.
To be fair, the movie is well acted, somewhat interesting, and never becomes boring (the worst sin of a creative work, in my opinion), but in the end the unpleasantness, grossness and endless depressing scenes outweigh the artistic value of the piece, making the film an ordeal to finish. Obviously, other reviewers here on Amazon feel differently, but this is my take. And, if you check out my other reviews, you'll see that I don't need a film to be light and feel-good to enjoy it.
There's a twenty-minute interview with actress Isabelle Huppert on the DVD, where she says that the crux of the film is the main character's desire to be loved in an old-fashioned way ("like something out of a nineteenth century novel") in a world where men only want to seduce her. "Really?" I said to myself, "but how does that explain her desire to be tied up and beaten, as well as the premeditated criminal maiming of her student?" I guess I've gotten out of practice with French cinema from the days when I used to enjoy Truffaut films.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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