Review of The Piano (1993) by Brandon R — 23 Mar 2011

The Piano is one of the best films by a female director of the last 20 years. It's interesting to note that the vast majority of successful filmmakers are and have been of the male persuasion, and yet here stands Jane Campion's work of the heart, a film so incredible, so moving, and so painfully honest about romance and the primal complexities of the human condition that it puts most others to shame.

She tells the story of Ada (Holly Hunter in an Oscar-winning performance), a deliberately mute, questionably privileged woman living in 19th Century England. She finds lift and solace in only two things: her youthful daughter Flora (Anna Paquin, also an Oscar winner for this) and her beloved piano, which she plays so often and passionately that she might as well be possessed by it. Her aristocratic father arranges a marriage with Alasdair Stuart (Sam Neill), a religious landowner who lives amongst the Maoris in a colony in New Zealand. Also among the English settlers is George Baines (Harvey Keitel), an illiterate, brutishly intense individual, who noticeably spends most of his time with the Maoris and has several facial tattoos to prove it. A deal is struck between the two men: many acres of Baines's land for the titular piano with daily lessons to accompany the gift, which Ada embraces with all the enthusiasm of a flexible mannequin. What evolves from this is the very essence of the tale, a game of eroticism between two men, vying for control over the woman they both want to claim as their own; rest assured that it's far more complicated than that.

Campion's film received numerous award nominations and well-deserved wins post release in 1993, including a total of 8 nominations and 3 major wins from the Academy; to say that the production itself is enchanting or impressive would be an understatement, and this is art house filmmaking at its absolute finest. Practically every moment of The Piano gushes with depth, symbolism and elemental poetry. Even its various scenes of explicit, full-on sexuality are handled with utmost beauty, precision and maturity; it's one of the few films I've seen wherein the storytelling would actually be far less effective and meaningful without it.

It's safe to assume that this is Campion's masterpiece; not a one of her subsequent films even comes close to matching its greatness, however interesting her body of work assuredly is and will likely continue to be. The Piano is one of my personal favorite films of all time. I simply cannot recommend it enough.