i was confused with this movie, please help?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Piano Teacher
Stardollsonly — 13 years ago(August 19, 2012 02:57 PM)
this was a good film but i was confused at a few parts? may you help me with these questions?
- why did Erika go on her mother and make out with her?
- why was walter slapping her so much towards the end?
- whats with the ending when Erika stabbed herself? why did she do this?
thank you
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claudioa — 13 years ago(August 19, 2012 08:56 PM)
I just saw the movie as well, very disturbing though it explores the nature of metal ilnesses. What i think:
- Erika was just sexually repressed, she was rejected by Walter, and she just wanted to fill her need for desire. Weird though,
- Walter was in the begining very confused but afterwards he was trying to follow her game, he was in love with her of course, and probably he was trying to get her into his real love, but following her game. In the end he hits her because he falls into her madness as well
- In the end i think she just lost her mind. Was not focused at all and started with suicidal signs. She was mentally ill and no medication, so i think she probably will try to kill herself But we never know..
This movie is kinda similar to the black swan..
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PoppyTransfusion — 13 years ago(August 20, 2012 02:27 AM)
There are no definitive answers to your questions as the nature of the film opens itself to interpretation based on experience, especially of the emotional life. Anyway these are my thoughts:
- why did Erika go on her mother and make out with her? From frustration and confusion around her relationship with her mother and her own sexuality. The boundary between mother and daughter was not differentiated enough that Erica could experience desire or her sexuality and 'know' it to be separate from her feelings towards her mother.
- why was walter slapping her so much towards the end? From anger. Erika had, unwittingly, wound him up into a fury and he uses her request for sexual violence against her. He has some sense that the violence she fantasises of is not what she would like in actuality but because he is angry towards he hurts her deliberately.
- whats with the ending when Erika stabbed herself? why did she do this? There is an implication that she might stab Walter but his arrival, late and in the company of others and without engaging her, makes this impossible. So she retroflects her anger towards him and inflicts it on herself, the only object she can hurt at that point in time.
Why problem make? When you no problem have, you don't want to make
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nnenok — 13 years ago(September 24, 2012 06:08 AM)
My interpretations:
- Most mental illnesses root in the relationship with the parents. Erika was living with her mother for more than 40 years (I assume she never lived by herself) and we can see that they have quite an abusive relationship so maybe this is how Erika understands love - by slapping, humiliation etc. And maybe that scene implies some hidden Oedipus complex; Walter has rejected her so she went back to the person who gave her the type of relationship she craved first.
- Since Walter was quoting her letter while he was slapping her, I assume he just followed her wishes. If you remember, the letter said something like "Even if I beg you to stop, don't stop and slap me harder" and so on. So when she begged, he went on even if it was hard for him (the actor was really good in that scene in my opinion). That is actually the reason why sado-masochistic couples have a "safe word". Because it is to be expected that the masochistic partner will be in pain and will scream something, but this doesn't neccessarily mean (s)he doesn't like it. If Erika and Walter would have a safe word and she would scream "fire hidrant" or something similarly absurd, he would know for sure whether to stop. But because she didn't, he couldn't know whether this was what she wanted or not.
- I think it was because she was sad - because he was ignoring her. There are two possible explanation of the ending depending on whether she liked the sex or not. If she didn't, she would maybe want to kill him, although I seriously doubt it, because she was really throwing herself at him and she was aware at all times that she asked for it in the letter. You can see how she is waiting for him before the concert and a brief flash of hope when she sees his family, but then he just runs by her, smiling and appearing like nothing happened just a few hours ago. Whereas maybe, for her, that was the greatest night in her life and she saw she lost him.
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Movielicious1 — 13 years ago(October 22, 2012 01:29 AM)
Erika has been dominated by her mother her whole life. Her mother has controlled every aspect of her life including whom she dates. In a sense, she has become her mother's b****. It's similar to that scene in Scarface when Gina tells her dominating brother to beep her because he can't seem to stand when another man wants her. I think Erika wanted to gain back the power she lost. Her mother has raped her of her freedom for years and she now wanted some of that power back.