Lezioni di piano

If one wants to see true acting, just watch Hollie Hunter in this film. She does more with her facial expressions than twenty actors can with a thousand words. Her stature, her presence, her determination are so intense. One could feel sorry for her in places. She has been ripped from her world for reasons we cannot fathom. She has been deemed expendable. When she arrives she expects to be treated properly. Anna Paquin as her daughter settles into the new environment and begins to prosper. But it is not without sacrifice. The piano is the symbol of what was left behind. Her affair with the Maori is partly passion, partly payment. We never know how much of each. The performances are stunning across the board and, this time, worthy of Academy Awards.

There are some very sensual scenes and scenes of great danger. There is pain inflicted and selfishness and power. Hollie Hunter rises above it all and makes her way through this quagmire (the rainy muddy jungle in this case), and arises, victorious in her own fashion.

"The Piano", directed by Jane Campion, is a haunting film about love, passion, betrayal and refusal set in the 19th century. Ada (Holly Hunter), sent to New Zealand on an arranged marriage, arrives with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her precious piano on a stormy gray beach. Her husband Stewart (Sam Neill) leaves her beloved piano on the beach after having decided that it is too heavy to transport it inland. He does not recognize what this means to the mute Ada, who expresses her emotions with the "voice" of her piano. Baines (Harvey Keitel), who has taken on Maori ways, is deeply moved by Ada and her "voice". He gives Stewart a piece of land in exchange for the piano and offers Ada a deal to earn it back.

Repulsed by Baines' crude appearance, Ada reluctantly accepts the deal to play the piano in his hut while he does "things". Submerged erotic desires and passion slowly set free between the unlikely pair during the piano sessions. Both Baines and Stewart become obsessed by Ada's powerful, intensely suggestive form of unuttered communication. Completely bewildered, Stewart asks Baines if had ever heard Ada speak a single word to him, claiming that he could hear her voice in his mind.

The breathtaking, beautiful imagery as well as its stirring music (Michael Nyman) contribute to the romantic, mystifying atmosphere of the film. "The Piano" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Best Actress (Holly Hunt), Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin), and Campion's screenplay. Holly Hunter's outstanding performance conveys impressively a woman's ability to express herself without words. "The Piano" is one of the best films I have seen so far.

There are very few female directors in the film industry that have been given proper acknowledgment or had their works introduced to mainstream filmgoers. Jane Campion is one of these precious few, a director who carefully paces and sculpts her works so that they magnificently flow like a musical interlude. "The Piano" is her ultimate masterpiece, a film of such simplicity, described with calm and tense complexity. Holly Hunter received an Oscar for her fascinating performance as Ada, a mute woman who is forced into an arranged marriage with a New Zealand landowner, played convincingly by Sam Neill, a native Australian actor himself. Ada journeys to New Zealand with her young daughter (Anna Paquin, also an Oscar-winner that year), few other possessions, and her treasured piano, a part of her that amplifies her voice that she cannot express through vocal communication.

I believe it would be wrong to assume that any of the characters are martyrs in this tragic story, nor would it be right to think Sam Neill's character a villain. You may think this is crazy, but I think the piano itself serves as both a good and bad omen for all that are involved. I would relate it to a "Pandora's box" of sorts, a treasure that exposes all the evil and sin in the world, but which also provides hope as well. The piano is Ada's sounding box, a tool that allows her to escape from a world that does not understand her, but that also threatens her moral compass, removing her from marital conventions and forces her to lose herself.

The performances in "The Piano" are particularly good, especially Holly Hunter's. It is interesting to note that all of Hunter's piano playing in the film is actually Hunter herself performing in front of us. You can visually and aurally feel the mood of Hunter's character through the music she plays. We the audience lose ourselves right along with her, lost upon a sea of music. We see why Keitel becomes enamored by her, and why Neill becomes overcome with jealousy and betrayal. Not many films would allow us to enter the emotions of all three main characters, but this film is truly an exception.

Rarely do we witness real beauty captured on film. "The Piano" is such a visually stunning film, it's almost intoxicating how its atmosphere sweeps across the screen. This landscape is equaled by the performances, bringing understanding and mystery to this wonder. Sometimes symbolism of this nature can be distracting to an audience. "The Piano" dares to follow this symbolic path, and hits a bullseye with full emotional force. Rating: Four stars.

There's no doubt The Piano is beautiful. The opening scene of the sailors carrying Ada and her beloved instrument onto the beach amidst the crashing waves is stunning; there are many shots like this, that show the awesomeness of the natural world, often as a reflection of the protagonist's emotional state.

I found the story to be less compelling however. It's slow, sparse on dialogue and doesn't give much information about the mute protagonist, like what her wants or fears are. I didn't find her particularly likeable.

There is also the matter of those awful Scottish accents; Why are American actors so bad at accents?

Even less convincing is the love story between Ada (Hunter) and George (Keitel). I felt there was zero chemistry between them; Keitel is such a lump of a man, I don't know why they couldn't have found someone more dashing for the role. His character, George, is so plain and boring, there's nothing about his personality that entices. It seemed silly to me that Ada would allow herself to be persuaded into bed with him, especially when his initial attempts at seduction were so blunt and rape-y. The love scenes left me cold.

It was the visuals and the haunting atmosphere that sustained me to the end. I can see why it gets praise from critics, but I can also see why it wasn't hugely successful with the general public. It just doesn't have the emotional power to match the cinematography.

The Piano is a beautiful film in many different respects. In terms of cinematography, I've seen few like it. It is dark and beautiful and compelling. The story seems, on paper, as a torrid love story without much originality. But the sensuous portrayal of Harvey Keitel and Holly Hunter and the complex acting of a young Anna Paquin allow this story to ring true. I was skeptical upon viewing a film so lauded by critics and film snobs, but found myself both moved and connected to the film that holds strangely relevant themes for modern times. It is rare that I love both a film's visual beauty and it's script as well. This is that rare occasion.