La Pianiste (2001)

"La Pianiste" (The Piano Teacher) is the unflinching psychological drama that cemented Isabelle Huppert's reputation for fearless, boundary-pushing work. She plays a repressed conservatory instructor whose private compulsions spiral out of control. Things turn dark once a young student enters her life. The film never looks away from the discomfort it creates. Huppert goes nude and bares all across several of the hub's 5 scenes. The material is explicit and sexually charged, matching her character's unraveling control. Annie Girardot also appears, adding a tense, complicated presence. She plays the mother whose grip on her daughter is its own kind of intimacy. Together the two actresses deliver some of the rawest, most confrontational scene work found in European arthouse cinema.