The Piano Teacher

About The Piano Teacher

Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

The Piano Teacher (2001) is a romance film directed by Michael Haneke. Its themes are loneliness, voyeurism, older woman younger man relationship, and BDSM.

Isabelle Huppert takes the lead as Erika Kohut, Annie Girardot as Erika's Mother, Benoît Magimel as Walter Klemmer, and Susanne Lothar as Mme Schober. It runs 131 minutes and was released in September 2001.

The screenplay is by Michael Haneke. Produced by ARTE France Cinéma. The story is adapted from a novel. It streams on Criterion Channel and HBO Max in the United States.

Queer, The Girl on the Train, and Turning Red make useful companions to The Piano Teacher, all filed under age-gap relationship, character study, and desire. TMDB voters put it at 7.3 out of 10 across 1,352 votes and it carries a R rating.