The Piano – 1993
This was one messed up movie. We have four messed up characters, each of whom do some pretty messed up things. The result is a drama in which it is sometimes difficult to understand the motivations of the characters. It wasn’t until I had finished watching the film, then logged on to Wikipedia and read the plot synopsis, that I felt I really understood the film.
The movie stars Holly Hunter as the main protagonist, Ada McGrath. For some unknown reason, she had stopped speaking when she was 6 years old, and communicated through sign language and a pencil and paper. Interpreting her sign language into words was her young daughter Flora, played by an 11 year old Anna Paquin. The daughter frequently makes up lies and does not always obey her mother. The film starts out as Ada and Flora are dropped off on a cold and misty beach along with all their possessions, which includes Ada’s precious possession, her piano. She plays beautifully, using it to express her emotions without speaking.
Apparently, she has been sold in marriage to Alisdair Stewart, played by Sam Neil, a rough frontiersman in New Zealand. After the two women spend a night on the beach alone, he arrives to escort her to her new home. With him are a number of hired native Maori men and a white man who lives with and works with them, George Baines, played by Harvey Keitel. An insensitive man, Alisdair tells Ada that there is no room for the piano in his house, and he forces her to leave it on the beach.
That is the set-up. What follows is a strange story about how George, after becoming entranced by Ada’s piano playing, and seeing her inner beauty when she plays, comes up with a scheme by which he attempts to seduce her. He gives Alisdair a piece of land in exchange for the piano and asks for lessons from Ada. The plot got a little complicated from there. Maybe complicated is not the right word. Involved might be closer to the mark. After a strangely successful seduction, Ada and George become lovers. Uncomfortable with her mother’s infidelity, Flora betrays her and tells Alisdair about Ada’s profession of love for George. Alisdair becomes enraged and uses an axe to cut off one of Ada’s fingers, both as punishment, and as a way to ensure that she can never play for George again. It was definitely an intense moment.
There is no doubt that the plot is a unique one. It was interesting to watch and figure out. Hunter’s performance was incredibly good, made even more impressive by the fact that she actually played the piano on the screen, and quite beautifully, I might add. Her performance was powerful, as was Neil’s, and the film has the distinction of being Anna Paquin’s first film role. As a matter of fact, Hunter and Paquin both won Oscars for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. There was also Keitel’s full frontal nudity scene just to throw some spice into the pot. And I have to say that I didn’t feel it was gratuitous or lewd. It was actually tastefully filmed.
I also liked the aesthetic of the film, the cinematography. The cold and rainy mid-19th century New Zealand coast was appropriately gloomy. I think the director actually used a blue filter on some of the outdoor scenes just to make them more ominous and dismal. The film’s writer and director, Jane Campion, did a great job setting a specific mood and feel. And just as interesting is the warm gold and red hues used during the film’s intimate moments. It all seemed like it was a deliberate choice.
Now, I have to make mention of a strange, and almost mystical element of the plot that just seemed to enhance the fantasy of the forbidden romance. I actually missed its significance until I read the Wikipedia plot synopsis. It concerns Flora’s father who was a piano teacher with whom Ada had once had an affair. Ada tells Flora that she believed that she was able to telepathically speak to him when they were together. This frightened him, and it is why he left her. At first, I just thought it was a story she would tell her daughter. But apparently, there was more to it. In the end, after Alisdair has severed her finger and tries to force himself on her, he hears her speaking to him in his mind. She tells him to allow George to take her away. This frightens him and makes him realize that she will never be a loving wife. He decides to let her go. George takes her away and crafts her a silver finger to replace the one she had lost.
It was a strange story that touched on some provocative themes of sex and seduction. Personally I have always liked both Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel as actors, and neither of them disappointed. If I had any criticisms of the movie it would be that the story took place around 1850 or so. The music that Ada was playing, while undeniably haunting and lovely, felt too modern to my ears. It didn’t seem to fit the era in which the story took place. But that was pretty easy to get over. It was a powerful story about romance and love that was beautifully told.