The Piano Teacher (2001)

Michael Haneke adapted Elfriede Jelinek's controversial novel into a poignant and oppressive drama. Erika Kohut is a forty-year-old piano teacher at the Vienna Conservatory: strict, reserved and seemingly in complete control. Her life appears to be as tightly composed as Bach's music, but behind the façade lies a hidden existence. She seeks an outlet for her repressed desires in pornography, voyeurism and self-mutilation. With his cool, detached style, Haneke paints a disturbing portrait of a woman desperately trying to keep her feelings under control. Isabelle Huppert, herself a gifted pianist, shines in one of her most acclaimed roles and has won several awards for her performance.