The Piano Teacher is an erotic thriller/drama that tells the story of piano teacher, Erika, an emotionally and sexually repressed masochistic woman who still lives with her mother, and her relationship with a 17 year old student.
During the scenes where Erika is instructing her pupils, I found it very intriguing to hear a pianists interpretation of music and how she read between the lines. I also found the suspended looks and long shots during the initial seduction to be very powerful and had me suspended in the tension alongside the characters on screen. I found her control and power over the student to be very French and very... I can't think of the proper word, but perhaps commanding and modernly feminine will suffice. She knows how to play the game, let's say that- to make a man be driven wild for her. I mean, Walter practically reeked of sex through the screen.
All that being said, this film was 50 shades of messed up. Somewhat early on we learn she is a masochist and self-mutilates her downstairs business- leading up to her presentation of a letter detailing all of the pain she wishes to be inflicted upon her by Walter. While she appears to be completely confident in her sexuality and sexual fantasies at first, she later realizes the danger and vulnerability she opened herself up to, irregardless of "love." It's interesting that she displays so much strength and confidence in her sexual desires, yet in such a controlled relationship from her mother, she still demands for a man to be in control and abusive.
While the film had it's moments, there are a lot of scenes that are quite uncomfortable to watch, specifically a later scene with her mother where she mounts her with kisses (VERY weird relationship), as well as the rape scene. It definitely makes you questions your judgements of others: If she got what she asked for (sadism), but rejects it as it comes, is he in the right or wrong? How does it provoke lust when it's so disturbing at times (definitely builds from erotic to psychotic)?
The movie ends with a literal self-inflicted "stab in the heart" when Walter passes with no acknowledgement to their relationship, and left me saying WTH?! Very ambiguous ending with a strange silence.
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