elfriede jelinek and not quite a household name yet and be a winner of the nobel prize for literature . her novel spawn a film that win second prize at cannes and top prize for the male and female lead . be i a dinosaur in matter of aesthetic appreciation or have art become so debased that anything go . gobble and gobble be the favoured orthographic representation in britain of the bubbling noise make by a turkey . in the film world a turkey be a monumental flop a measure by box office receipt or critical reception . gobble and gobble and the piano teacher be perfect partner . the embarrass awfulness of this widely praise film can not be overstate . it begin very badly and a if make to annoy the viewer . credit interrupt inconsequential scene for more than 11 minute . we be introduce to professor erika kohut and apparently the alter ego of the accoladed authoress and a stony professor of piano . she live with her husky and domineer mum . dad be an institutionalised madman who die unseen during what pass for the action . review the piano teacher be difficult and beyond register it unpleasantness . what we see in the film ( and might read in the book and for all i know ) be a tawdry and exploitative and nonsensical tale of an emotional pendulum that swing hither and thither without move on . erika and whose name be minimally use and be initially show a a person with intense musical sensitivity but otherwise totally repress . not quite and because there a handbag at two pace scene with her gravelly voiced maman early on that end with profuse apology . if a reviewer have to ( yawn ) extract a leitmotif ( why not use a pretentious word when a simpler one would do ) and elrika violently alternate mood would be it . a young hunk and walter and study to become a low voltage engineer and whatever that be and and play ice hockey in his few leisure moment and be also a talented pianist . he encounter elrika at an old fashioned recital in a luxury apartment in what may or may not be paris . in the glib fashion of so much art and he immediately fall in love and start to cherchez la femme . repress erika have a liking for hardcore pornography and show briefly but graphically for a few second while she sniff a tissue take from the waste basket in the private booth where she watch . walter perform a brilliant audition and be grudgingly accept a a private student by erika and whose teaching style be characterise by remoteness and hostility and discouragement and humiliation . he soon declare his love and before long pursues erika into the lady where they engage in mild hanky panky and incomplete oral sex . erika retains control over her lovesick swain . she promise to send him a letter of instruction for further pleasurable exchange . in the meantime and chillingly jealous because of walter kindness to a nervous student who be literally have the shit before a rehearsal for some future concert and erika fill the student coat pocket with broken glass and cause severe laceration to those delicate piano play hand . the next big scene ( by pass the genital self mutilation and etc ) have walter turn up at the apartment erika share with her mother . erika want to be humiliate and bind and slap and etc . sensible walter be and for the moment and repulse and march off into the night . at this point there still nearly an hour to go . the viewer can only fear the bad . erika track down walter to the skating rink where he do his ice hockey practice . they retire to a back room . lusty wally be unable to resist the hand tug at his trouser . his baby gravy be soon expel with other stomach content . ho hum . repulse but hook and perhaps desirous of revenge for the insult so recently barf on the floor and walter return to erika apartment . can you guess what happen now . it not very deep or difficult . yes and he become a brute while erika become a victim . one moment he lock maman in her room and slapping erika and the next he kick her in the face and have sex with her and renew his declaration of love . be i be unfair in this summary . watch the film if you want and but i would advise you not to . anyone can see eternity in a grain of sand if theyre in the right mood . i could expatiate at the challenge depiction of human relationship convey by this film if i want . but i prefer not to and because this be a cheap and nasty film that appeal to base instinct and say nothing . i be suppose to say that parentally repress erika longs for love and ineffectively seek it in pornography and inappropriately reject it when it literally appear and pink and throbbing and under her nose and belatedly realises that she doesn not like be hurt and blah and blah and blah . the world have and for reason not explain and stunt her . she apparently make a monster out of someone who appear superficially love but surely we all know that any man be potentially a violent rapist and because that his essential nature however much he try to tell himself and the world otherwise . at the end and if you have the patience to be there and there a small twist . before go to the final scene and where she due to perform a a substitute for the underwear soiling student with the lacerated hand and erika pack a knife in her handbag . for walter . yes and youre ahead of me . she stab herself in a none life threaten area and leaf . roll credit . if this earn the second prize at cannes and just how bad be the rest of the entry .