Tags
1990's, Anna Paquin, Drama, Harvey Keitel, Holly Hunter, Jane Campion, Romance, Sam Neill, The Piano
Film Title
The Piano
Director
Jane Campion
Starring
- Holly Hunter as Ada McGrath
- Harvey Keitel as George Baines
- Sam Neill as Alisdair Stewart
- Anna Paquin as Flora McGrath
A stunningly realized tale of passion, sexual awakening and music from Jane Campion, The Piano is a film that slowly burns itself deep into the memory with its mix of mystique, sensuality and atmosphere.
Set in the mid 19th Century, The Piano follows the character of Ada McGrath, a mute Scottish woman who hasn’t spoken a word since the age of six. No one knows why she stopped speaking, let alone Ada. Her father has her married to Alisdair Stewart, a landowner living in New Zealand, on a windy, rain-drenched and misty frontier. Along with her precocious young daughter Flora, who often acts as her mother’s translator, Ada travels to New Zealand to marry a man she has never met before. She immediately takes a dislike to her uptight new husband when he refuses to transport her treasured piano to his home. Alisdair is taken aback by Ada, and because of his attitude towards his workers, which consist of a Maori tribe, he is disliked by many. For Ada, the instrument is an escape and she yearns for the prized piano. George Baines, an illiterate worker for Alisdair who has immersed himself in the Maori culture, agrees to buy the piano from him. Baines has seen Ada’s love for the piano and the passion with which she plays. Ada doesn’t take to kindly to Baines purchasing her treasured piano and goes to see him. It is here that Baines strikes a strange deal with Ada, if she gives him lessons on the instrument, she can regain the instrument. The other part of the deal is that he can do what he likes while she plays, which culminates in advances towards her. Although she is hesitant around him at first, Ada soon comes to care for Baines and the lessons become a string of highly charged passionate encounters as unspoken desires rise to the surface with unusual consequences.
Jane Campion directs with a passionate but objective eye. As well as this, she wrote the screenplay, which delves into the complex characters and shows both their good and bad sides. No character in The Piano is easily identifiable as the hero or villain as they are drawn in such a way that gives them mystery. Campion also manages to successfully incorporate a commentary on burgeoning sexual awakening from a woman’s point of view. Ada is mute in a society in which men are the respected one’s and women are beneath them, this gives her character a certain stubbornness in the way she isn’t conventional of the time in which the movie is set. Striking imagery is ever-present throughout the film, engulfing the characters in dark blues and misty melancholy as passion unfolds from beneath the bonnets and braids of Ada and the uncouth but tender Baines. Eroticism seeps from many a frame as Ada forms an illicit but understanding relationship with Baines. I previously wrote about my love for The Piano’s stunning score in a previous post, but I will do it more justice in this review. Michael Nyman builds his score with beautiful skill, as the music becomes the voice for the silent Ada and engrosses us with its evocative crescendos and lilting lullabies.
Holly Hunters turns in a tour de force performance that deservedly garnered her the Best Actress Oscar. Almost wordlessly, Hunter conveys joy, pain, anger and passion as Ada with adroit intelligence and keen understanding. She forms the beating heart of the romantic drama and is just amazing in her delivery. Harvey Keitel is also highly effective as the rough-hewn but caring Baines, who becomes entranced by the passion of Ada and her piano. Sam Neill is subtle as Alisdair, and interestingly plays him as not just a villain but as a conflicted man not used to the surroundings and with no time to communicate with his wife. A young Anna Paquin also scooped an Oscar win for her excellent performance as the mischievous Flora, who often makes up fanciful tales and dances like a sprite among the misty splendor of the forest. There is a refreshing maturity to Paquin’s performance, as she manages to convey very intense and serious emotions far beyond her young years.
Visually arresting, sonically enthralling and excellently acted, Jane Campion’s The Piano is a passionate and sensual film that is very hard to forget once you’ve finished watching it.
Mark Walker said:
Wonderful review of a wonderful film, Vinnie. It’s been a long time but I really liked this flick all those years ago. A revisit is on the cards methinks!
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vinnieh said:
Thanks Mark, I would definitely revisit it.
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Mark Walker said:
I might just do that my friend. I still have a copy but it’s a little dusty! 😉
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vinnieh said:
Glad my review has made you want to watch this movie again, my job is done.
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Dan O. said:
I watched this awhile back and I have to say, it was pretty strange. Still, well-acted on mostly all fronts. Good review Vinnie.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks, there are a few unusual steps taken in this movie.
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Abbi said:
Amazing review. Made me want to watch this again!
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vinnieh said:
Thanks Abbi, glad you enjoyed my review. It always pleases me when someone says my review has made them want to seek the film out again.
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Cindy Bruchman said:
One of my top films of all time. Great assessment, Vinnieh! I wish Jane C. would do more films.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks Cindy, I really need to watch more of Campion’s movies. Any suggestions?
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Cindy Bruchman said:
She did A Portrait of a Lady –another beautiful, period piece, but it had its weak spots. The Piano is by far her best, but others I would watch would be Holy Smoke and In the Cut.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for the suggestions Cindy, will check out the titles you’ve mentioned.
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The Vern said:
I was surprised at how much I loved this movie when I first watched it at 16. This is not the kind of movie a young guy should enjoy, but I really did. It wasn’t the relationship between Kitel and Hunter that sold me. It was the journey of this woman not doing what others expected that made me like her. You are correct no one is bad, but what Neil’s character does is pretty F__ed up. Great review
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vinnieh said:
Exactly, the journey she goes on has such an individual and personal feeling to it. You’re right that confrontation between Neill and Hunter is a brutal and very unexpected moment when tensions boil over into shocking consequences.
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thoughtsallsorts said:
Such an amazing movie. You should read the book if you haven’t already done so – I found it so enlightening (I read it after watching the movie) as it elaborates on a whole lot of things the movie didn’t. And in no way does reading/watching the one before the other impact the other. Ah, it is time to pull this one out too. So many movies your blog is reminding me of and that are in need of another watch.
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vinnieh said:
I like when my reviews have people digging through their DVD collections.
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beetleypete said:
A powerful film with great performances. Campion made some excellent films. I also recommend ‘An Angel At My Table’, and ‘Sweetie’.
Cheers, Pete.
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vinnieh said:
She brought that unusual passion that is unmistakable to this, as well as showcasing a complex heroine.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Spot on review Vinnie!
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vinnieh said:
You know me Kim, anything strangely passionate and told from a woman’s point of view and I’m there.
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