The
Piano Teacher was shot with a mixed French and
German / Austrian cast, speaking their own languages, and dubbed accordingly.
It may also seem a strange title for a film by Michael Haneke, the great Austrian director best known in America for his Oscar - nominated study of the origins of
German fascism, The White Ribbon; the surveillance thriller Caché; and The
Piano Teacher, which was itself a kind of love story — the sadomasochistic kind.