Pianiste, La aka the piano teacher(2001)

Plot:A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher.

It's always the quiet ones, isn't it? It's always the detached, the reserved and the remote who turn out to be the kinkiest.
The opening to The Piano Teacher sees Erika (Isabelle Huppert), a rather prim middle-aged woman, returning home only to be confronted by her mother. Her mother is outraged that she's late and she wants to know where she's been. She even grabs Erika's purse and checks her bankbook! Erika then grabs her mother by the hair while they call each other names. But after a brief tussle they're in each other's arms, apologising for their behaviour. These two people are highly dependant on one another. And in a weird way they're more like a married couple than mother and daughter; they even sleep in the same bed. Needless to say, it's not a particularly healthy domestic situation.
sex is where the real Erika comes out. In one scene she goes to a sex shop to watch hardcore porn. She even sniffs a pile of used tissues. But what's most telling is how the men in the shop react. Erika is completely comfortable. The men, though, are rather disturbed.
what's great about the film is that it doesn't judge Erika. We're not asked to laugh at her or consider her nothing more than an oddity. After all, it's probably easier to change the color of the sky than it is to change someone's sexual desires. No, what's disgusting is Walter's reaction to Erika. She begins to open up to him, to show some vulnerability, and rather than handle the situation like a man and say that he's not interested in that sort of thing, he humiliates her.And this of course leads to the savagely unhappy ending.
Huppert is superb here in the painful-to-watch film. She is carrying an incredible amount of psychological baggage, and it really affects her emotionless life. She is looking for love, but only finds seduction.She has a warped sense of S&M that she supposes is love but when faced with reality, she is shocked and cold.
7/10 great performances good direction