20 Most Controversial Movies Since 2000

16. The Piano Teacher

Another filmmaker who, like Larry Clark, has frequently drawn controversy for his transgressive and subversive approach to making movies is the Austrian writer-director Michael Haneke - unlike Clark, however, Haneke is clearly a filmmaker for whom intellectual grist is of paramount importance, and despite the controversial nature of much of his output it's impossible to deny his depth and maturity.

The Piano Teacher is just one example of Haneke's ability to tackle the obscure darkness residing in human nature with a subtle degree of empathy while at the same time refusing to pull punches. Focusing on the life of Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert on fine form) as the eponymous teacher with a penchant for self-mutilation and paraphilia (in which sexual arousal derives from everyday objects and situations - figure that one out if you can), it's an uncompromising yet riveting portrait of a woman for whom bizarre and uncontrollable desires ultimately consume her daily life, one for which Haneke fully deserved the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.