Jane Campion's "The Piano" struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerized by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face, and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. "The Piano" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin, and Campion's screenplay. "--Jim Emerson"

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The story centers around Ada (Holly Hunter in an Oscar-winning performance) and her daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin--who also won an Oscar for her extraordinary performance). They leave their upper-class home in Scotland after Ada's father (apparently) arranges her marriage. Ada, who has willed herself not to speak since age 6, expresses herself through her beloved piano.

The true story of who fathered Flora is never revealed in the movie, but the context suggests that she is Ada's illegimate child born from an illicit affair. The hinted-at story of Flora's conception provides a key to understanding both why Ada later begins an affair with her New Zealand neighbor Baines (Harvey Keitel) and why she makes a mail-order marriage in the first place. I suspect that Ada's aging father may have wanted to see her settled--preferably far away so that her unconventional behavior would no longer be a source of social embarassment--and given Ada's muteness and out-of-wedlock child, her father probably couldn't find a suitable suitor in mid-Victorian Scotland.

Stewart (Sam Neill) first encounters his future wife on a lonesome gray beach surrounded by her crated belongings. His Maori porters begin carrying many household items up the muddy path to his dreary homestead. But Stewart refuses to bring the piano along, despite Ada's apparent distress and Flora's pleas that her mother MUST have her piano.

Ada's piano, abandoned on the barren New Zealand beach, captures the sense of what 19th century colonial life might have been like for too many women--treasured possessions, the last ties to "civilization" left behind.

Rendered voiceless without her piano, Ada begs Stewart to return for her instrument through notes and more pleas from Flora. Finally she persuades Baines--a colonist whose tattoed face evidences the extent to which he has "gone native" and who is considered less civilized by his neighbors--to guide her back to the beach. Ada comes to life again as she, at last, gets to play. Drawn by her passion for the piano, Baines arranges with Stewart to trade land for the piano. Without consulting his wife, Stewart assures him that Ada will provide lessons too.

During first of these lessons, Ada strikes her own bargain with Baines, whom she still considers a boor: She will trade sexual favors to earn back her piano, one key at a time. Ultimately, her reluctant bargain grows into full-blown love and passion. The dark, brooding tone of "The Piano," however, suggests that something in this situation will go tragically, and probably violently, wrong.

Campion has filled her movie with haunting piano music (actually played by Hunter) and intriguing imagery. The metaphor of piano as voice and losing and regaining one's voice, Flora's role in changing her mother's fate, the question of whether Ada's bargain reflects a woman taking control of her life or just being victimized in a different way, and many other complexities make this a movie worth watching again and again and again.

46 of 49 found the following review helpful:

Disturbing - Beautiful - BrilliantSep 17, 2003
By K. W. Miller "beaujee"
I missed this movie in the theaters 10 years ago, and saw it for the first time purely by chance on HBO recently. I was so enchanted that I watched each of the next three showings in the very same day, and then bought the DVD for my collection. It is one of the most unique, truly deep, thought provoking, awe-inspiring, movies I've seen in a while. The drama is almost Biblical, the love story almost Shakespearian in quality (think Othello). I was enraptured by the music, the crashing waves, and the amazing synergy between the players.

And Harvey Keitel - who knew? Those gangster/tough guy roles just don't even touch this man's talent. George Baines is intense, tender, passionate, a total jerk - so it would seem - but underneath the gruff exterior lies the heart of a prince. Keitel really puts it all out there, literally and figuratively. It's a risky role and it works for him.

Holly Hunter was spectacular, as usual, but in this film the fast-talking, high-energy woman you came to know in "Broadcast News" or "Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom" must dig deep. Ada's silences surpass powerful, she conveys more with her facial expressions than most people say out loud in a lifetime. Speech is clearly an overrated and overused form of communication. Ada's will is almost a character onto itself. And one can see clearly that no one is more surprised by her emerging emotions and unfolding events than she.

Sam Neill's character is sad, broken, pathetic, frightening, and your basic worst nightmare all at once. Jealousy is indeed and ugly and and devastating emotion.

I disagree with a few of the other reviewers about Anna Paquin's character, Flora. Some saw Flora as innocent. Watch closely. She's diabolical, almost schizophrenic. She has the wide-eyed, innocent visage of a pathological liar. Note the scene with the photograph, the dog under the porch, her conversations with the other women in the village (where you begin to see her turn on her mother as she realizes that she's being replaced as the center of her mother's universe) and when her final act of betrayal results in horrific violence (don't think for a second that she didn't know what she was doing), then note her repentence, and subsequent absolution (the soiled angel wings in the river), and her redemption. Miss Paquin could never be considered a "child star" she's already shown more maturity than many adults in film today.

And of course, the Piano, the center of it all, Ada's voice, the music in this movie is so moving and expressive, so perfect for each scene. My next purchase is the soundtrack.

In sum, heart-achingly beautiful, devastatingly real and dream-like all at once. I highly recommend.

40 of 44 found the following review helpful:

Worth watching for the Symbolism aloneSep 05, 2006
By Evangeline Anderson "author of paranormal and sci-fi erotica"
I saw this movie when it first came out in theaters in 93 and it has continued to haunt me ever since. Watching it again last night, I realized once more what a wonderful movie it is--rich in symbolism, character, excellent acting, and a story so deep and beautiful it won't leave your brain.

Many reviewers have given a plot synopsis but I want to talk about the way the piano itself is used in the movie. It is a beautiful instrument and from the start of the movie we can see that Ada loves it. We soon see why she is so attached to it--it is literally her voice since she has not spoken since the age of 6. When she and her daughter are dumped on the shores of New Zealand, her new husband refuses to acknowlege her need to have the piano with her. He leaves it behind despite her pleas that they take it rather than her clothes or household goods. There is a very poingnanant scene with Ada standing on a cliff and looking out to the beach at the piano with such longing in her eyes. It is clear she is leaving a part of herself behind--perhaps the most important part and yet her oaf of a husband completely misses it.

It is Bains, the neighbor and friend of Ada's husband who finally grasps the significance of the piano. At Ada's insistance, he takes her and her daughter back to the beach so she can play her beloved piano and 'speak' for the first time in days. You can see by the way her face lightens from the harsh mask it has been through most of the movie so far how much this means to Ada. She actually smiles and her movments lose their stiffness and become flowing as she lets the music move through her, saying things impossible to express through words. Bains displays a quality here that Ada's husband has little of--patience. He stays on the beach and listens to Ada play most of the day. There is another interesting piece of symbolism at the end of this scene where Ada walks in the wet sand, leaving her footprints behind. Her daughter runs to join her, walking in the same set of footprints and after a moment's hesitation, Bains also follows, adding his footprints to hers and making the track a single one--forshadowing the end of the film in which the three of them will form a family.

After hearing Ada play, Bains is captivated by her. He arranges with her lunk of a husband to buy the piano and Ada is forced to give him lessons. At first she has nothing but contempt for Bains whom she considers ignorant because he can't read but after they strike their bargain--1 black key on the piano keyboard for one sexual favor in order for Ada to earn her piano back--she gradually begins to see him in another light.

Much has been made in other reviews of the fact that Bains proposes such a bargain to Ada in the first place. But this is not the act of a man bent solely on gratuitous sexual gratification--rather it is the only way Bains can think of to make Ada his--to bring the elusive and aloof woman down to his level so he can love her and give her a chance to love him. Throughout the movie it is clear that Bains is deeply moved by every aspect of Ada--the way she looks, the way she expresses herself through music, the play of muscles under her skin as she 'speaks' through the piano, even her scent. And it is clear that he understands the significance of the piano because he treats it as an extension of Ada herself. In one evocative scene, he takes off his clothes and uses them to polish the richly carved wood of the instrument after Ada has gone. He touches the piano with reverence and love, using the same gestures that he later uses with Ada herself when he caresses her body.

I must digress here to say that many reviewers have commented on the full frontal nudity of both Ada (Holly Hunter) and Bains (Harvey Keitel) in the movie. Some people seem to think it is gratuitous but I really liked it because I felt it added to the symbolic quality of the film. Bains looks like you might expect a New Zealand farmer to look--his body is hard and deeply tanned from working in the sun--he is everything that is rough and rugged and masculine. In contrast, Ada is pale and fragile looking--everything soft and feminine and when she does finally yield to Bains with her whole heart, the differnces between them combine to make a deeply sensual scene.

It is in the love scene that we first see the beginning of the end of the piano. Ada, who hasn't spoken a word out loud since she was 6, says something we can't quite catch while she and Bains are making love. Bains doesn't quite catch it either but he urges her to 'whisper it' in his ear which she does. Now that Bains has unlocked her voice, we can see that the piano is going to become obsolete. And in fact, at the end of the film when she and her daughter are leaving via canoe with Bains, Ada orders that it be pushed overboard. The piano now symbolizes her old life, a life she wants to leave behind forever. But it almost takes her with it--she nearly drowns with her piano when her foot catches in the ropes that bind it. She struggles free at the last moment as much to her own surprise. She is surprised that her will has chosen to live rather than to die with the piano which now symbolises the stagnant life she is leaving behind.

At the end of the film we see Ada learning to speak. Though she still plays the piano, it is no longer her sole means of communication. She has grown from a cold, silent woman to a warm and loving one, the change fostered by Bains' love and understanding. He has helped her find her true voice and let go of her past though in her dreams she still sees herself tied to the piano which rests at the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps she sees the part of herself she had to leave behind in order to grow and find true happiness and self fulfillment.

The Piano is a moving and beautiful film, one of my top five favorties of all time. I can't say enough about this lovely movie. Rent or buy it today and see what I mean.

36 of 44 found the following review helpful:

If Looks Could KillMar 15, 2004
By gobirds2
THE PIANO is a very unusual, enigmatic and haunting film. To say anything less would be incredulous. It is a story set in some remote coastal hills of a very bleak eighteenth century New Zealand overrun by dense jungle, mud, the elements and crude natives. Ada (Holly Hunter) and her young mischievously meddlesome daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) arrive on the New Zealand beach to meet Stewart (Sam Neill) whom has arranged to marry Ada. Ada, as we discover in the prolog is a woman who has not spoken since she was 6 years old. She is not only mute but strangely introverted and repressed. A piano, which Ada has brought with her, is her only means of expression. The ex-seaman ex-whaler Baines (Harvey Keitel) is a rather crude looking character who becomes enchanted by Ada's piano, which has been left on the beach. He retrieves it, buys it and then has Ada barter for its return setting the conflict of personalities and their repressed feelings into motion. Ada's mute playing of the piano is juxtaposed by her piercing dark eyes focusing from her face shrouded in ever so pale white skin. Her looks are riveting and disturbing. The image of Paquin's face is unnerving. As the film progresses we see that the primary characters are truly misunderstood from what our initial impressions had ascertained them to be. This is an exceptional film that you have to watch and listen to closely because of its very subtle nature that envelops your senses. The characters and the actors that portray them are brilliantly presented. Stuart Dryburgh's cinematography is equally important because the images on the screen take on a life and spirit of their own in this haunting film.

12 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Words cannot convey...Mar 17, 2004
By Susan J. Keenan "aladriel84"
Words cannot convey...and this is one of the things this incredible movie teaches us. The Piano is one of my favorite movies of all time. The scenery is breathtaking. Holly Hunter is brilliant as Ada, the mute (by choice) "victim" of an arranged marriage. Her facial expressions and physical movements express more than words could ever say. In fact, I found that once I become aware of watching her gestures, I began watching the expressions of other characters in the movie also. Harvey Kietel is cast in a very different role for him and the result is impressive and shows a much larger range of his acting ability. The music in the film is beautiful and is Ada's true "voice".

This movie must not be watched in the ordinary way one would watch any other movie. If you're just going to watch it in a literal way, this isn't the movie for you. The Piano is a wonderous combination of music, scenery and symbolism. It's like a dream sequence. The movie feels almost enchanted. The filming of 2 major scenes of violence is exquisite. I didn't notice the violence itself so much as I felt the pain of the characters.

I highly recommend this film...no matter how many times I watch it, it never fails to move me.

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