A review of the classic film “The Piano” (1993)
An original story told in captivating fashion, this film is a triumph for New Zealander Jane Campion who both wrote and directed it.
The setting is a poor community in a coastal region of 1850s New Zealand. Ada (Holly Hunter), a Scottish widow who hasn’t spoken since childhood, arrives as a kind of mail order bride, with a passion for her piano but no love for her landowning husband (Sam Neill). When he trades the piano to a local plantation worker (Harvey Keitel), Ada is given the chance to win it back, one key at a time, in a fashion which starts as exploitation and becomes something much more amorous with dramatic consequences.
Hunter is mesmerising in a voiceless role where she has to act with her eyes and hands. However, in a film when so much emotion is conveyed in silence, sound is a vital ingredient in the production’s impact: the crashing of the waves, the squelching of the mud and, above all, the music of Michael Nyman. Both behind and in front of the camera, this is an exposition of female will.
Shot on location for a minimal budget of $9M, the film proved to be a great success. Although it didn’t win its Academy Award nominations for best picture and best director, it took the statuettes for best screenplay and best actress.