The Piano Teacher

Another movie that is tough to figure out. It's not really difficult to understand what it's about, sexual deviance is never really that complicated, but I wonder what our stance is supposed to be towards the main character. Is she a monster? Probably not, and though one might be tempted to find the main fault with the domineering mother, I think perhaps that would be missing the larger point.

"I really loved you," says one character to another. Much of the dialogue is conducted in monologue, with one character sitting in stony silence, non-responsive. And so the question becomes how does one define love when it comes from another, unknowable person? Where is the evidence? In control? Jealousy? Obsessiveness? When we need it so badly, are we willing to mistake the evidence for the real thing? "I'll do what you tell me," she says, and it seems clear that this is enough for her. The tragedy is that the real thing destroys the illusion, and he asks her, during the disturbing climax, "Is this what you imagined?"

Warning: this movie is NOT for the squeamish.