The Piano Teacher: a shocking effort

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Widely borrowing from Belle du Jour and Repulsion, this nasty little picture screams "outrage!"---but only a whimper is heard.
What could critics that "loved" this have been looking at?
READ NO FURTHER IF YOU MUST SEE IT.
Genital mutilation, bodily waste and sexual pleasure commingling, anus-lingus--is there some purpose to this or is this a treatise on sexual dysfuntion?
An apparently priggish music teacher (why did she have to love my favorites Schumann and Schubert so much?) is shown to be so repressed that she crosses over into your garden-variety "perversions". Her relationship with a devilishly good-looking, talented, and quite un-neurotic young man plays out (sorry) in a poorly written, unbelievable, and pained way.
I know it's unfair to compare dreck to platinum, but if the director was trying to portray sensual realism, a la Last Tango, he merely has shown how talented Bertolucci and company were.
Isabelle gives her all, but one wishes she had kept just a bit in reserve. Her character speaks not one line that gives insight, understanding, or that proves she has a brain, at all.
Like that gangly high school athlete, her efforts are predictable, ungainly.
The genius of Belle du Jour is that Catherine Deneuve's character seemingly was "normal" but happened to have "abnormal" desires. Similarly, the unravelling of her character in Repulsion was stronger because of her "normal" appearance.
Huppert looks strange, acts strange throughout: one would be surprised to find she was a devotee of heterosexual, missionary sex.
Now, if you want a good modern story of strange carnal behavior, see Breaking the Waves...ah, now that's more like it!

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Topic - The Piano Teacher: a shocking effort - tinear 08:06:20 06/03/05 (3)

I was stunned Huppert did this . . . - mr grits 10:28:16 06/03/05 (0)

Re: The Piano Teacher: a shocking effort - Victor Khomenko 10:18:32 06/03/05 (0)

Re: The Piano Teacher: a shocking effort - patrickU 08:29:11 06/03/05 (0)

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