MovieChat Forums > La pianiste (2001) Discussion > Thoughts On Erika's Relationship With He...

Thoughts On Erika's Relationship With Her Mother...?

posted 14 years ago by Seethergrrl
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I was wondering what other viewers thought of Erika's relationship with her mother? (Sorry if this has been covered before - can't find any previous posts addressing this though)

My interpretation of it was that they were so close that boundaries became blurred and harder to understand - hence the scene where Erika forces herself onto her mother and kisses her in a 'not quite mother/daughter manner'. Erika's mother seems to exist only for Erika and her life is being lived entirely through her and vice versa (she's even listed in the credits as The Mother) - Erika has to rush around and be there for her mother and make excuses when she isn't there. It also seems that her mother is confined to the house with the exception of attending Erika's concerts, where (tellingly?) they link arms in a leaning mutual support of one another.

So, the forced kiss scene - simply to show Erika's general confusion? I enjoyed this film (as much as a film featuring such a plot can be enjoyed) but the scene with the mother confused me a little.

Be me, for a little while.

[–] ichbinsisyphos 14 years ago

I can't really explain it ... I think that a whole range of different emotions got mixed up together inside of her ...

sexual desire, which she is inexperienced with, and for which she has no one to live it out with

still the desire of a child to be loved by her mother, a love her mother was never able to show.

but also anger because of the control her mother has over her, she feels trapped, even if she doesn't know anything else. It was also an attempt to dominate her mother.

I think she was just for a short moment able to let her emotions out, but all at the same time.

I will now end this debate with you.

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[–] PoppyTransfusion 13 years ago

I thought Erika was needing her mother as a mother in this scene; the way she cries right at the end and says she's seen her sex with hairs on it, very childlike. The sexual aspect is probably because of what had happened with Walter earlier. Agree it's a confusion in Erika's feelings.

Her mother treats her like a child much of the time. She's controlling, cajoling, supportive in her piano (perhaps too much so, like the other mother of Erika's student?) and protective.

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