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"Piano teacher" (La Pianiste) :
I like logic. I like to find explanations for everything around me, I like causes and effects. I had to watch "The Piano Teacher" twice and I am still can't quite get "what was that all about?" question out of my head. I can see the surface of the story but I get a feeling the story is not really just about relationship of a sadomasochistic piano professor and her pupil, or just about her crazy domineering mother. I wish I knew more about the culture and the history of Austria to put the story into the right context. I wish I knew more about psychology, it seems that the relationship between Erika and Walter is like any human relationship but projected into the plain of extremes: power games, desire to dominate merged into desire to let go of control and be free whilst still retaining the dominant position. This domination/letting go of control combination seems to be impossible to achieve.
Even more interesting, it seems that Heneke continues his "I hate this society" theme. "Hidden" was essentially a film about racism, "Piano teacher" comments on some misogynist views, the sort of views, for example, that any powerful woman still harbours rudimentary desire to submit.
To summarise, this is a very interesting film, but not for everyone. It contains some quite shocking graphic sex scenes and scenes of violence.
The Lover (L'Amant)
One of the most evocative films I have seen. A haunting love story of 15 year old French girl and her 30 year old Chinese lover, set in Vietnam, 1929. Very beautiful and anti-xenophobic. Tony Leung Ka-Fai is gorgeous and so is Jane March. This film also contains many physical love scenes, but if in "The Piano Teacher" these scenes are meant to shock you (and they successfully do so) , the physical love scenes in "The Lover" are meant to express repressed feelings. In fact, the moments of physical closeness is the only time the characters in "The Lover" are true to themselves and free. Wouldn't it be good if we always were truthful about our feelings and acted on them? Or may be not because some feelings lead to nowhere? The film is beautifully nostalgic and expresses the longing for the things that are gone and can't come back - you can feel the decades of the past; you can almost touch the time, hear and smell it. This time and these people are gone, washed away by the rain but they are etched into the fabric of reality. I loved this film.
I like logic. I like to find explanations for everything around me, I like causes and effects. I had to watch "The Piano Teacher" twice and I am still can't quite get "what was that all about?" question out of my head. I can see the surface of the story but I get a feeling the story is not really just about relationship of a sadomasochistic piano professor and her pupil, or just about her crazy domineering mother. I wish I knew more about the culture and the history of Austria to put the story into the right context. I wish I knew more about psychology, it seems that the relationship between Erika and Walter is like any human relationship but projected into the plain of extremes: power games, desire to dominate merged into desire to let go of control and be free whilst still retaining the dominant position. This domination/letting go of control combination seems to be impossible to achieve.
Even more interesting, it seems that Heneke continues his "I hate this society" theme. "Hidden" was essentially a film about racism, "Piano teacher" comments on some misogynist views, the sort of views, for example, that any powerful woman still harbours rudimentary desire to submit.
To summarise, this is a very interesting film, but not for everyone. It contains some quite shocking graphic sex scenes and scenes of violence.
The Lover (L'Amant)
One of the most evocative films I have seen. A haunting love story of 15 year old French girl and her 30 year old Chinese lover, set in Vietnam, 1929. Very beautiful and anti-xenophobic. Tony Leung Ka-Fai is gorgeous and so is Jane March. This film also contains many physical love scenes, but if in "The Piano Teacher" these scenes are meant to shock you (and they successfully do so) , the physical love scenes in "The Lover" are meant to express repressed feelings. In fact, the moments of physical closeness is the only time the characters in "The Lover" are true to themselves and free. Wouldn't it be good if we always were truthful about our feelings and acted on them? Or may be not because some feelings lead to nowhere? The film is beautifully nostalgic and expresses the longing for the things that are gone and can't come back - you can feel the decades of the past; you can almost touch the time, hear and smell it. This time and these people are gone, washed away by the rain but they are etched into the fabric of reality. I loved this film.
