Bavarian director Michael Haneke's ("Code Inconnu," "Funny Games") latest picture, "The Piano Teacher," which stars Isabelle Huppert as a strict, cultured and surprising piano teacher, is itself a surprising work, exploring duality and conflict as personified by a single character.
That person is, of course, Huppert's plain-jane pianist, Erika Kohut. A hard as nails instructor in a Viennese conservatory, she is ruthless with her young students and is locked in almost constant, ferocious battle with her overbearing mother, played by Annie Girardot ("Rocco & His Brothers," "Les Miserables"). In her 40s, Erika still lives at home with her mother; her father has died in an asylum.
This madness begins to creep in as we see that behind the cultured, urbane, austere facade, Erika has a taste for porn films, peeping at couples engaged in sex acts at drive-in movies and, most shockingly, self-mutilation and evil, violent acts of spite.
Meanwhile, Erika is sort of set upon by Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel, seen in "Already Dead"), a younger man studying to be an engineer, but who possesses a remarkable aptitude for the piano and a consuming love for music that will soon be matched by his desire for Erika. Initially, she rebuffs him, but soon sees in the young blond with the rugged good looks someone who can help her satisfy her unusual, sado-masochistic desires.
As the film simmers, the two come together, but will Walter be game for satisfying Erika's wish-list?
{INSERT_RELATED}In addition to being a complex psychological portrait of one woman, "The Piano Teacher" -- based on a novel by Elfriede Jelinek -- feels like a manifesto proclaiming the director's love for classical music. Extended shots focus on the talented hands of Walter, Erika and her students and many scenes feature characters debating the various merits and personalities of composers like Schubert and Schumann. And the music wafts through the film, creating a calm counterpoint to a story that is often anything but serene.
What will entrance viewers most is Huppert's masterful performance as the icy piano virtuoso who has lived a life of loneliness, ambition and subservience to her strong-willed mother. After our intial shock, Huppert's delicate portrayal opens our eyes to how this woman's situation and experience creates in her such a dichotomy of feelings. How her pent-up frustrations build until they find this release.
"The Piano Teacher" opens Fri., July 12 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
