With Jane Campion winning this years best director statue at the Oscars, her previous filmography becomes ripe for the upgrade treatment. Among them, and probably most famously, stands The Piano. She won her first Oscar, for best screenplay, for this sweeping period romance.
Ada (Holly Hunter) a woman who hasn't spoken since she was six years old, is married off to a Coloniser in New Zealand by her father. She takes the long journey to the other side of the world, taking with her her daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin) and her piano.
Her new husband Alisdair (Sam Neill), is a weak man who doesn't seem to understand how to use the power he holds. Awkwardly managing a group of Maori who regularly outsmart and mock him, and refusing to prioritise the retrieval of Ada's piano from the beach.
Eventually, Alisdair sells the piano to a man who works for him, George Baines (Harvey Keitel) with the understanding that Ada will teach him to play.
He actually holds the piano in trust, allowing Ada to visit him regularly and play it. But his own bargains escalate, as he uses her removal of clothing as a way for her to buy back her own treasured instrument. Despite this manipulation, an understanding and an affection grows between Ada and George. Flora, too young to know better doesn't approve, and manipulates things herself to expose this growing relationship to Ada's spawned, sexless husband.
The bonus features on the disc have Campion comparing The Piano to the works of Emily Brontë, a comparison that makes perfect sense in reflection. Two upper class women sent to a remote and harsh landscape and finding love in a place they aren't supposed to, ‘Wuthering Heights' is a clear thematic influence. The frustration of these two women who are intelligent and wilful, but unable to control their own destiny thanks only to their femininity. Ada doesn't know why she doesn't talk, she just stopped one day, there was no specific trauma. It suggests she simply feels voiceless, so allows that to consume her.
The relationship with George gradually allows her to find her own individual strength. To find her voice away from just her piano and to generate her own agency. Whilst maintaining endless patience with Flora, who acts as her voice frustratingly, at arms length, despite the love between them.
The Piano is a stunning, slow, frustrating, and consuming watch. The first hour tests your patience before really getting into the meat of the story. But would it work without that hour? It allows us to feel Ada's difficulties and get our own perspective on her powerless life. From the midpoint it amps up and is tumultuous in a way few things are. These characters are put through horrific things and it is difficult to watch.
The Piano looks stunning in 4k, with the landscape given full depth to be as dark and gloomy as it must have felt to some of the settlers at the time. There is beauty amongst the mud though, and that is important too.
The bonus features are lifted from the 25th anniversary blu-ray release. So it's a shame there is nothing new for fans who expect more from a new purchase. Perhaps in this case though, the film is enough.
Special Features
- Interview with Jane Campion & Jan Chapman
- Making of
- 25 Years On
- Trailer
- Featurette with Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh
- Featurette with Production Designer Andrew McAlpine
- Featurette with Maori advisor Waihoroi Shortlan
The Piano is released on 4k on September 5th
