Essential Cinema - 36

The Piano

ACTORS:
Holly Hunter (Ada McGrath)
Harvey Keitel (George Baines)
Sam Neill (Alisdair Stewart)
Anna Paquin (Flora McGrath)

DIRECTOR
Jane Campion

SCREENPLAY
Jane Campion

CINEMATOGRAPHER
Stuart Dryburgh




SYNOPSIS:
A mute woman and her daughter become the mail order bride for a white settler in turn of the century New Zealand. The woman can only speak through her daughter or by playing her piano.





CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER
Communication. How we express ourselves to others, the true nature of love, and perils that we must go through to find true happiness.





PROS AND CONS
I would consider this a "women's" film. It deals with a woman's search for love and understanding in a harsh land. The central focus is on Holly Hunter who portrays Ada McGarth. She gives a very good performance considering that she does not speak a word in the entire film. She also plays all the musical pieces on the piano. Good enough in fact to win her the Academy Award for best actress.





The film is written and directed by Jane Campion who is somewhat of an icon in Australian and New Zealand film making. She specializes in these types of films, which have stunning scenery and intimate character studies. During this viewing of the film I was surprised at what a rather simple and straight forward story it is. The film is more visual than anything else, which is not surprising, since the main character never speaks. But Campion pushes this even furhter, giving turn of the century New Zealand a beautiful, almost surreal quality.





Anna Paquin portrays Flora McGrath in the film and won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress as Ada's daughter. This is somewhat puzzling, since she isn't really all that prominent on screen and her acting scenes are nothing more than what the average little girl of 12 would do anywhere else. There are also large gaps in the development of Sam Neil's character, Alisdair Stewart, ( who portrays the mail order husband). He appears frustrated and impotent in the film, but his mindset and issues are never really flushed. out. He is spurned by Ada only because he appears to not see the value in her piano. But he does try and never gives Ada a reason to dislike him.





This film is graphic at times and there are scenes that come very close to bordering on the explicit. There is also violence but this is more for effect as opposed to simply showing gore and blood.





More than anything else, this film makes me admire the acting abilities of Holly Hunter and also makes me want to visit New Zealand. It also makes me realize that any woman that has to have a piano hauled everywhere she goes is not the sort of woman that would make a good long term relationship.


This film is avaiable for viewing and download by clicking the image below. The film is in m4v (Quicktime) format.




This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection which can be viewed here.

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