The Piano Teacher (2001)
La Pianiste
Drama, Romance • 2h 10m
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch, Cornelia Köndgen, Thomas Weinhappel, Georg Friedrich, Philipp Heiss, William Mang, Rudolf Melichar, Michael Schottenberg, Gabriele Schuchter, Dieter Berner, Volker Waldegg, Martina Resetarits, Annemarie Schleinzer, Karoline Zeisler, Liliana Nelska, Luz Leskowitz, Viktor Teuflmayr, Vivian Bartsch, Florian Koban, Thomas Auner, Andreas Donat, Gerti Drassl, Klaus Händl, Erika Kollmann-Till, Nina Kripas, Esther Pils, Petra Reichel, Arbesi Sufi, Marcus Zeuner, Eva Green
About the film
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
- TSPDT
- 2026: #6182025: #6712024: #7032023: #6822022: #682
- Alternative Titles
- The Piano Player
Director: Michael Haneke
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
2025 Curzon UK Blu-ray or 2013 TF1 FR Blu-ray (caps)
Curzon has a slightly better encode and preserves all the noise of the digital source, but ends up obscuring actual detail in some shots. Both are quite good, only caveat being that the TF1 disc is slightly cropped and has a black bar on top.
2008 Artificial Eye UK and 2025 Umbrella AU discs have incorrect pitch. TF1 FR disc is missing 7 minutes of audio in the left channel. See spectrograms.
Director: Michael Haneke
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Michael Haneke
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 2k eclair scan
Director: Michael Haneke
Director: Béla Tarr
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.
Director: Walter Salles
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Curzon 4K Blu-ray
Surround mix: Vision Film Polish PAL DVD (2000)
The surround mix is fully discrete, not a mere decode or upmix of the Dolby Stereo LCRS track. This mix has never appeared on any other releases.
Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Directors: Jean Vigo & Boris Kaufman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
Director: Roman Polanski
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379
Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
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