The Piano Teacher

From the novel by the recent Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Elfriede Jelinek, this is one of those deeply strange European "Arthouse" films that divides people like no other genre in cinema. A lot of people wouldn't even give it the time of day, labelling it pretentious or boring, or just warped - and it is all those things, from a certain viewpoint - but I happen to think Cinema that deals with Humanity and difficult issues like The Piano Teacher are absolutely vital: they may not be entertainments or means of escapism but they are challenging, like any good work of art. Like Irreversible, this has the power, the skill (Isabelle Huppert is extraordinary in the lead) and the daring to deeply disturb the viewer and prompt them to question things they normally wouldn't be comfortable confronting. Not everyone's COT is a big understatement - I thought it was exceptional. 9/10 Kx