The Piano

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The Piano
original film poster
Directed by	Jane Campion
Produced by	Jan Chapman
Written by	Jane Campion
Starring	Holly Hunter Harvey Keitel Anna Paquin Sam Neill
Music by	Michael Nyman
Distributed by	Miramax
Release date(s)	19 May 1993, August 5, 1993, 12 November 1993
Running time	121 mins.
Language	English, Māori, British Sign Language
Budget	$7 million (est.)
IMDb profile

The Piano is a 1993 film about a mute pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater. The film was written and directed by Jane Campion, and stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin. It features a score for the piano by Michael Nyman that became a bestselling soundtrack album. Hunter played her own piano pieces for the film, and also served as teacher for Paquin, earning herself three different screen credits.

Contents 1 Story 2 Awards 3 Interpretations 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Story

The Piano tells the story of Scotswoman Ada McGrath (Hunter), who is sold by her father to frontiersman Alistair Stewart (Neill) and is shipped off with her young daughter Flora (Paquin) to live with him as his wife in his native New Zealand. She has not spoken a word since she was six years old, expressing herself instead through sign language (for which her daughter serves as the translator) and through her piano playing.

Her new husband does not appreciate her fixation with music, however, and abandons the piano on the beach where Ada, her daughter, and their belongings have been unceremoniously deposited by the ship that ferried them from Scotland. When the instrument is sold to their neighbor George Baines (Keitel) in exchange for land, Ada is asked to give him piano lessons. Baines offers Ada to give her the piano back in exchange for escalating sexual demands. Only as she gradually develops affection for Baines and the pair pursue an affair is Ada rescued from her heretofore cloistered existence and eventually redeemed by love.

[edit] Awards

The film won the 1993 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm, shared with Kaige Chen's Farewell My Concubine) at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1994, the film won Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Holly Hunter), as well as Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Anna Paquin) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Anna Paquin was the second youngest person to win an Academy Award. It was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

Critical reaction was generally very supportive as well. Roger Ebert called it "one of the most enchanting love stories ever made." In an Entertainment Weekly sample of critics at the time of release, The Piano scored a unanimous 'A' rating, is a feat that only a handful of other films have been able to manage.

One dissenter was cultural critic bell hooks who condemned it as racist in her book Outlaw Culture.

[edit] Interpretations

Some regard The Piano as a feminist film about a woman trying to maintain control over her own life in an age when women were considered the property of their husbands.^{[citation needed]} Others see this interpretation to be compromised by the heroine's capitulation to, and apparent enjoyment of, Baines's sexual blackmail.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

• Cheshire, Ellen. Jane Campion. Great Britain: Pocket Essentials, 2000.
• Kaufman, Cynthia. "Colonialism, Purity, and Resistance in The Piano." Socialist Review 24 (1995): 251-55.

[edit] External links

• The Piano at the Internet Movie Database
• Roger Ebert's review

Preceded by The Best Intentions

Palme d'Or 1993 tied with Farewell My Concubine

Succeeded by Pulp Fiction