Introduction by Isabelle Huppert.

Isabelle Huppert rushes in where most movie stars fear to tread as Erika, a brilliant, middle-aged instructor at a Viennese music conservatory whose icy domination of her pupils belies desperate, masochistic urges. When she meets Walter (Benoît Magimel), a brash 17-year-old student, his infatuation leads Erika to explore her most dissolute fantasies. Adapted from Elfriede Jelinek’s novel, the film pairs Haneke’s rigorous formalism with Huppert’s singular blend of fire and ice for an unnerving treatise on cruelty, repression, and the kinky underside of elegance. Winner of the Grand Prix and both acting prizes at Cannes, The Piano Teacher was described by Manohla Dargis as “a harrowing story of sex, fascism, and the ties that bind and sometimes throttle.”

Ticket Price: $13 General Public / $9 Student & Senior / $8 Member