The Piano Teacher

''Drive-in. I'm not sure this really adds anything to the movie, other than to say, "Hey, this gal's really messed up!"''

both scenes are there to say: that hey! she needs help.

erika is repressed. she cannot make love so i thought by going to drive ins and watching porn would at least satisfy a need to see these acts (one on the remote and the other first hand).

I watched this movie six months ago so I'm not sure I can't remember everything with the level of detail required to discuss this with you.

alex is wrong BTW. any movie that leaves asking questions and proviking v v long posts on interweb messaghe boards is worth it.

''Plus, "Have you read Adorno?" is now my dream chat up line.''

never thought of this is as a chat up line but I might try this on the pub tonight.

''As for the Adorno side of things - wasn't Adorno some hot-shot musician as well?''

yes, and a composer but not a v good one i believe (haven't heard anything tho').

haneke films expect so much of you

Cf. student films on racism: two black men in an alley, a white women walks past, the student film splits either way depending on how 'good' the little blighters are: 1) it concentrates on the panorama of the scene and the woman's fidgeting, worried eyes: ergo woman implicated as the racist: you are let off; 2) concentrates on the woman and her trenchcoat in the wind: you become anxious NOT because of the worry in her eyes but yr own preconceptions (obv assuming you DO get anxious) ergo YOU are implicated. fuck you!

There's also much more to Funny Games than the (ho-hum) 'implication of spectator in on-screen violence' - or rather, I thought it was REALLY exciting/scary, worked as a THRILLER, and that all the meta/extratextual whatsits pretty much looked after themselves...

Martin - I feel much the same way about Breaking The Waves and Cutter's Way and perhaps, but in a lesser serious way, Justin's Like I Love You. They should all be seen/listened to.

They showed this recently on Channel 4.

One of the most amazing things about this film is Isabelle Huppert's movement. The way she runs down the stairs in the scene where she sabotages the young girl's pocket, all her fast movements are almost 'boyish'. There's a swagger, a quickness of muscle that just doesn't fit with the idea of this woman being a sheltered tender piano genius. It's a beautiful contradiction, her demeanour not matching up with the technologies of conditioning her body has been through. A terrific terrific film.

Now, though, looking back on things, I am still stunned by the acting and the way the visuals have stuck with my mind, many months after watching them. Not an 'upper' and there are some major flaws, but it is oddly compelling.

My initial reaction, though, is that it's not a great film. There's something self-satisfied about its severity, bordering on smugness. It congratulates itself for being a movie willing to show you what it shows, and the audience is expected to congratulate it (and Huppert in particular) in turn. I can understand the attraction of the role to a performer like Huppert, because she's a serious actress and it was a serious challenge. But that's the thing -- I can understand the motivations of the people who wanted to make the movie, but I have a hard time thinking of a motivation for wanting to see it.

it doesn't really work, though, as a story about a piano teacher. the open cliffhanger of 'what happens?' is underwhelming, if such a thing is possible.

Ugh, strike 2 for Haneke after Funny Games. I didn't even know he directed this film.

I'll be chewing this one over for a couple of days.

it's a bullshit movie with a great performance. (oh i already said that on this thread. well, it's still true.)

''As for the Adorno side of things - wasn't Adorno some hot-shot musician as well?''

yes, and a composer but not a v good one i believe (haven't heard anything tho').

I have heard a string quartet of his since, my recollection of it was as a very 1910s-20s sorta work in the way the strings would move.

H's performance, undoubtedly great as it is, is kinda used to talk down the all-round excellence of this film. As a character and the way it is drawn, the teacher is totally unreal, so its remarkable how she makes as convincing as it is, and how I even sympathize and feel for her at the end when she is merely a spoiled child (as Daria puts it). May have a lot of bullshit in it but I like his bullshit.

John Waters needs to remake it.

It desperately needs improvement by someone, anyone