Teeth (2007), directed and written by Mitchell Lichtenstein, is a darkly comedic horror film that blends outrageous elements with serious social commentary. The film’s premise is both bizarre and thought-provoking, revolving around the concept of a young woman’s body harboring a terrifying, yet humorous, secret. With its unique take on bodily autonomy, sexual violence, and empowerment, Teeth stands out in the genre as a film that mixes grotesque horror with sharp satire and feminist undertones.
The story follows Dawn (Jess Weixler), a seemingly innocent teenage girl who lives in a conservative town and adheres to strict moral codes. Dawn has grown up with her stepbrother and a controlling, religious father who teaches her about abstinence and the dangers of sexuality. However, Dawn’s life takes a drastic turn when she discovers that she has a rare condition known as vagina dentata—a mythical disorder where a woman’s vagina has teeth.
This condition, which makes any form of sexual penetration an incredibly dangerous endeavor, becomes both a curse and a source of empowerment for Dawn as she navigates her tumultuous journey from innocence to self-discovery.
The Piano Teacher (French: La Pianiste, literally ‘The (Female) Pianist’) is a 2001 erotic drama film written and directed by Michael Haneke, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Elfriede Jelinek. The film tells the story of an unmarried piano teacher (Isabelle Huppert) at a Vienna conservatory, ̲l̲i̲v̲i̲n̲g̲ ̲w̲i̲t̲h̲ ̲h̲e̲r̲ ̲e̲m̲o̲t̲i̲o̲n̲a̲l̲l̲y̲ ̲a̲n̲d̲ s̲e̲x̲u̲a̲l̲l̲y̲ ̲unbalanced mother (Annie Girardot), who enters into a sadomasochistic relationship with her student (Benoît Magimel).
A French-Austrian co-production, Haneke was given the opportunity to direct after previous attempts to adapt the novel by filmmakers Valie Export and Paulus Manker failed for financial reasons.
Erika Kohut is a piano professor in her late thirties at the Vienna Music Conservatory who resides in an apartment with her domineering elderly mother. Her late father had been a longstanding resident in a psychiatric asylum. Despite Erika’s aloof and assured façade, she is a woman whose sexual repression and loneliness are manifested in her paraphilia, including voyeurism, sadomasochism, and self-harm.
