La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher)
I recently viewed the Michael Haneke film La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher). I will make this brief, I don’t know how to explain how much it intrigued me.
Caché is the only other Haneke film I had seen. Though I enjoyed it immensely, I was a bit skeptical about highly stylistic lack of energy, which is relevant considering it’s subject matter. Still, I was afraid his body of work would rely heavily on this distinguished approach: an over-reliance on translucency and minimalism. Kind of like how M. Night’s body of work seems solid after viewing one or two films, but you immediately realize that they lack contrasting core structures. Twists and all. Sure, they work the first few times, but come on. Shyamalan’s cannot efficiently build on any narrative foundations than the one he started with.
Thankfully, La Pianiste failed to confirm my fears.
I don’t know what to say. What a fascinating piece of art. Haneke has an uncanny ability to delve into the human persona through film language. He knows exactly what knobs he is turning and why.
Through Erika (Isabelle Huppert), Haneke takes us deep inside her mind. He shows us the cross and lack thereof between sexuality and art. The fantasies and the frustrations. The fantasy and the reality.
As cliche as it sounds, great cinema has the ability to show instead of telling. It triggers the audience’s mind, seamlessly forcing them to process information without treating like idiots; without screaming the words out; unfortunately television does this way too often. Through body language, context and a Cannes winning performance alone, we learn about how Erika models herself, her true personality, and the attitudes and the affect of the people surrounding her. The uptight posture of this woman, looking out the window, scolding a student, where we can discern the satisfaction and pleasure on her face. The way she paces down the indoor shopping center, keeping her face forward as she focused only on the destination, she ignores the crowds of people surrounding her, and the obnoxious sounds streaming out of the arcade with it’s flashing lights – only to find her in an adult boutique. Her posture when Walter reads the letter she wrote due to her own embarrassment; the insecurity and shyness of a normally outspoken person. And ultimately, the stunningly gaping look on her face when she realizes her fantasies aren’t exactly what she made them out to be.
The other actors performances are far from short of Huppert’s, but I don’t want to spend too much time on this post.
Most of Caché is composed of a lingering, static camera, allowing the audience to become the idea that drives the protagonist mad. Haneke made us the watcher. Similarly La Pianiste has it’s share of dragging, static shots. On the other hand, we are not watchers. The camera moves, it cuts. It’s much like Jia Zhangke’s Still Life, with it’s slowly dissolving angles and cuts. But they aren’t films with a series of 10 minute shots. They use a variety of wide shots and close ups according to feeling. Haneke understands the important of the central content, actors and story. Most directors, including myself, would argue that an actor or actress must deliver according to their feelings. They must act, and speak when they feel it is a right time. The editing of La Pianiste is like an actor. Forget this whole notion about, you know, cut to close up for emotional impact. It’s not about how frenzies or subtle the scene is, or how the shots work together in the final cut. It’s about when it truly, legitimately, feels right to cut, change angles, get closer or father away. Watch the scene with Isabelle Huppert and Benoît Magimel in the bathroom to see what I mean.
Also note the strikingly cold and genuine cinematography provided by Christian Berger. He deserved the Oscar for The White Ribbon, I don’t care what anyone says about Avatar.
There is a lot to be said about the implementation of music in the featured performances and beyond: Schubert, Bach, Beetoven, Chopin, Rachmaninov.
That’s what I wanted to share.
Everything about this film revolves around the emotions within the relationship between these two characters. Art, sex, reality, fantasy and the like.
Terrible trailer, couldn’t find a better one. This will have to make do.
Stumbled across this book review which made me crack up.
