He claims that he went through the same psychotic process of music education by his own father. Is that really true, or was it just bullshit to deflect anger from the students?
Charlotte doesn't actually screw up anywhere in her performance at the end. Anton always tells students that they screwed up, even if they didn't, so he can justify the "process." It's not conclusive, but obviously musically talented Zhang Li thought Charlotte did wonderfully. She could just not be as critical or discerning, but she wouldn't be in Bachoff if she wasn't already talented. We don't see any reaction change during her performance, only when she's done.
Paloma
She was a former student, who grew up and Anton convinced to marry, which is why she's so immersed in the Bachoff Method; it's been her whole life.
If so, this makes her death by Lizzie/Charlotte pretty morally gray.
Paloma has been involved in previous "pay the prices" as a participant, much like Lizzie ostensibly is for Charlotte's. This brought her further down the rabbit hole because not only was she conditioned into Bachoff's practices but ended up implicated in them as well (and lightens the moral grayness of her death a bit).
