if you think piano teacher erika kohut ( isabelle huppert ) in michael haneke film la pianiste be the ultimate degree in the personification of derangement and perversion and darkness and i have get news for you represent the piano teacher in elfriede jellinek novel la pianiste ( on which the film be base ) be twice as repulsive and disgusting and derange and even more fascinating though there can not be word enough to translate the level of artistic proficiency that isabelle huppert have reach here and above all other mortal actress in activity today . and who else could have play this character with such emotional power and complete with the best piano playing or dub an actor could deliver . in the novel a in the film and there be two big antagonist to the heroine kohut represent her own mother ( wonderful and wreck voice annie girardot and in a part originally intend for jeanne moreau ) and austria itself . the mother personifies jellinek perception of her native austria a a country that deceptively and perversely encourage racist or fascist ( or at least authoritarian ) behavior and sexual and emotional repression and and and let say and übermensch ideal which be impossible to keep today without the danger of a mental breakdown . la pianiste also deal with a very powerful and delicate issue represent how dangerous it be to reveal your innermost fantasy to the one ( you think ) you love . we tend to think our own sexual fantasy must be a excite to others a they be to ourselves and which may turn out to be a huge and embarrass and sometimes tragic mistake . here and kohut learns ( . ) the lesson in the most painful and humiliating of way . it must be mention that elfriede jellinek be one of the best known and praised author in austria and europe ( well and now she get a nobel prize . ) and that autobiographical passage can be infer in her novel and a she herself be a pianist and have a reportedly difficult relationship with her mother . the novel also include long passage about kohut childhood and adolescence so you kind of understand how she turn into who she be now . haneke choose to hide this information in the film and force u to wonder how she get to be that way ( do not we all know a erika kohut out there . ) . but he very much preserve the fabric of the book in his film represent unbearable honesty and to the point where most secretive and horrendous feeling painfully emerge envy and cruelty and violence and jealousy and hate and misery and sadism and masochism and selfishness and perversion etc . all of them unmistakably human . i think la pianiste be a deeply move film and very disturbing and think provoke and with a handful of unforgettable scene and and that just all i ask of movie . it also make me buy and be thrill by the book and discover a fantastic author i hadn not read before and and listen again and again to schubert so and my thanks to haneke and jellinek and isabelle . on the other hand and if youre look for light entertainment and please stay away . my vote represent positive .