La Pianiste portrays Erika Kohut who teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory. She lives with her tyrannical elderly mother in a hermetically sealed world of love, hate and dependency in which there is no room for men. Her escapes are her regular visits to porn cinemas and peepshows. Her sex life consists of voyeurism and masochistic self-injury. After one of her students expresses his feelings and tries to seduce her during the private class, her inhibited desires explode. A brilliant tale of sexuality and violence.