The Piano

In 1993 Kiwi director Jane Campion set out to create an art house film that appealed not only to the artsy crowd but to the masses, too. Her film, originally titled The Piano Lesson, was an expression of emotions, both tragic and exhilarating, and an erotic passion expressed through the hauntingly beautiful melodies of a piano. Music plays a key role in expressing passion and agony, love and sorrow. Jane Campion narrows in on this in her choices of music and camera work, painting a tapestry of sounds and imagery that convey what the protagonist, herself, cannot.

The setting is mid-1800’s and a Scotswoman named Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) is sold by her father into marriage to Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill), a frontiersman living in New Zealand. Ada hasn’t spoken since she was six for reasons unknown. She travels to New Zealand with her daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin), a handful of trunks, and a piano, all of which are left on the beach while she awaits her new husband. When he arrives, along with several of his Maori workers, and his neighbor George Baines (Harvey Keitel), he refuses to have his men carry the heavy piano back to their home, leaving it on the beach instead. 

George, upon hearing her play the instrument, makes a deal with Alisdair. He’ll trade some land Alisdair wants but cannot afford, in exchange for the piano as well as lessons from Ada. Ada is furious but cannot stop her husband from the trade. But George doesn’t want to learn how to play. Instead, he wants to listen as she plays. He also has feelings for Ada, feelings that he hopes she reciprocates as it becomes obvious she has none for her arranged husband. Soon he strikes up a bargain with her, allowing her to earn the piano back one key at a time for increasingly more intimate favors. All of this comes to a head, though, when he realizes that he has turned her into a whore, selling her intimacy. He wants her affections but only if they are genuine.

Holly Hunter has the very real challenge of conveying so much without a stitch of dialogue. Whenever words are required it is either handled through her daughter, who translates the sign language, or in writing. Much is handled in simple body language. This is even directly called out in the film as Ada is seen as cold and distant by the Maori and then later, after things heat up between her and George, it’s pointed out to Alisdair that she looks happier and more warm. If it weren’t for this change in her demeanor it would be hard to interpret how she was taking George’s increasingly bold advances towards her during these piano lessons. She is such a closed book throughout much of the first half of the film that it really takes a close observation of her every move to get much of a feel for her. It’s not until he turns her loose and gives her back her piano that it becomes apparent that she has fallen for him, too. Once that piano is back in her home she no longer wants to play it, especially not for her husband who has no interest in it whatsoever.

Alisdair looks at his purchased wife as nothing much more than anything else he can buy, even speaking about her as if she were a pet. He’s frustrated by her lack of intimacy with him yet he is just as stunted, unable to show her any love or affection. George, on the other hand, does show her that affection, just in a clumsily, and wildly inappropriate way. He lays on the floor as she plays the piano, and runs a finger over a small hole in her stocking, feeling that small bit of skin showing through. He runs a hand over her forearm as she plays the keys, feeling through his fingers the gentle movements of her muscles as they contract and tighten rhythmically while playing the melodic chords. These physical connections, at first shocking to her, forge a intimate connection between the two that goes further and further until he finally offers to her a significant amount of the piano just to lie down with him, skin to skin. It is this moment that gets him to realize that unless she feels for him the way he does for her all he is really doing is paying for perceived intimacy.

Anna Paquin got her start in this film. Jane Campion was looking for a foil for Holly Hunter, one who could not only look the part but would physically be smaller in stature than the already short lead actress. Anna was so impressive in her monologue performance that she beat out 5,000 other candidates for the role despite having never acted before. She is absolutely perfect here as the young daughter, Flora, who understands just enough of what is going on between her mother and George but not what her own actions will cause as she speaks out to Alisdair about her observations. She is genuinely shocked when, as a direct result of her actions, Alisdair takes away her mother’s ability to play her piano, seemingly forever. 

This film was meant to be a complete tragedy complete with the leading lady allowing her life to end, sinking to the bottom of the ocean alongside her piano. Remnants of this are still left in the film. Ultimately, though, it was decided that Ada would decide to live after all. A somewhat melancholic ending was written incorporating her near death and the aftermath. It was the right choice. It gets across the feeling of absolute loss Ada feels after Alisdair’s assault and her feelings of being unable to communicate anymore. Fortunately a solution is crafted by George, albeit an imperfect one. 

This is a film about intimacy and how it is built in some of the most unlikely places. It takes some inspiration from the tale of Bluebeard, including blatantly calling it out through a school play. This play foreshadows Alisdair’s brutal act later on that feels even more sadistic than outright murder. His actions are tantamount to branding a runaway slave and further support his views of Ada being nothing more than his property, bought and paid for. This theme is first represented on the beach in the beginning when the two first meet and it is cemented with his final acts of violence. Jane Campion set out to make a mainstream movie that also works as an art house film. She succeeded on both counts. This could have easily been the Best Picture winner of the year at that year’s Oscars had it not been facing the juggernaut Schindler’s List, a film that was guaranteed to beat out nearly anything placed against it. The Piano hits just the right emotional core to resonate with audiences and is easily amongst the best films of all time.

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Jan Chapman

Best Director: Jane Campion

Best Actress: Holly Hunter (won)

Best Supporting Actress: Anna Paquin

Best Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen: Jane Campion (won)

Best Cinematography: Stuart Dryburgh

Best Costume Design: Janet Patterson

Best Film Editing: Veronika Jenet

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Release Date: May 15, 1993

Running Time: 117 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Kerry Walker and Genevieve Lemon

Directed By: Jane Campion