The Piano Teacher
A sexually restrained piano teacher desperate for intimacy becomes entangled with a charismatic student, forcing her to confront the suffocating grip of her domineering mother and her own dark compulsions.
Synopsis
Erika Kohut is a sexually repressed piano teacher who lives with her domineering mother. She meets a young man who begins to pursue her romantically.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 44+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Nadine MuseShot by Christian BergerDesigned by Christoph Kanter
Box Office
2001 · Box office
⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.1× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$6.8M
US & Canada: $1.0M — 15% of worldwide · International: $5.8M (85%)
Also known as
- Die Klavierspielerinde
- The Piano Teacheren
- La pianistait
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Cast & Crew
44 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Isabelle Huppert
as Erika Kohut
Annie Girardot
as The Mother
Benoit Magimel
as Walter Klemmer
Susanne Lothar
as Mrs. Schober
Udo Samel
as Dr. George Blonskij
Anna Sigalevitch
as Anna Schober
Cornelia Kondgen
as Mme Gerda Blonskij
Thomas Weinhappel
as Baritone
Georg Friedrich
as Man in drive-in
Philipp Heiss
as Naprawnik
William Mang
as Un professeur
Rudolf Melichar
as Le directeur
Supporting cast
23Michael Schottenberg
as Un professeur
Gabriele Schuchter
as Margot
Dieter Berner
as Le professeur qui chante
Volker Waldegg
as Teacher
Martina Resetarits
as Teacher
Annemarie Schleinzer
as Teacher
Karoline Zeisler
as Teacher
Liliana Nelska
as Secretary
Luz Leskowitz
as Violinist
Viktor Teuflmayr
as Pianist
Vivian Bartsch
as Woman in drive-in
Florian Koban
as Pupil
Thomas Auner
as Haydn Pianist
Andreas Donat
as Chopin Pianist
Gerti Drassl
Klaus Handl
Erika Kollmann Till
Nina Kripas
Esther Pils
Petra Reichel
Arbesi Sufi
Marcus Zeuner
Eva Green
as Walter's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
7Parents Guide
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Live · bot-verified- The Criterion ChannelStream
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