Mute Scottish widow Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), her nine-year-old daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her piano, which she plays to express herself, arrive to an arranged marriage in the wilds of 19th-century New Zealand. Her husband Stewart (Sam Neill) refuses to transport the piano, however, and so it's left behind on the beach. Unable to handle it being destroyed, Ada makes a deal with George Baines (Harvey Keitel), an illiterate Englishman living with the local Maoris. She may reacquire her piano if she lets him do certain things while she plays - one black key per lesson. Soon, all three become entwined in a passionate but unstable romantic triangle.
Jane Campion is a writer-director like no other. I can count on one hand - two, tops - the number of period romantic dramas I have ever enjoyed, but The Piano is truly a masterpiece. Winner of the 1993 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or and nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture (which it lost to a little competition called Schindler's List) and winning three, for Hunter, Paquin and Campion's screenplay, it is just intoxicating. Campion's direction is so assured as she deftly invokes the powerful natural New Zealand landscapes as a backdrop and metaphor for her characters' unusual and increasingly risky relationships, and her script is totally consistent with the era and place. Adding to this is Stuart Dryburgh's lush cinematography and Michael Nyman's haunting score.
But if all those elements are the heart of The Piano, the cast must surely be its soul. In one of the hardest roles ever conceived for a woman, Holly Hunter is unforgettable. With not a word of dialogue spoken on-screen, she makes Ada an absolutely indomitable figure: resolute, imperious, carnal, merry but also fragile. Paquin became the second-youngest competitive Oscar winner ever at age 11, solidly handling Flora's trajectory from a very sweet little girl conspiring with her mother to one who will betray her, and with a fluent Scottish accent. Sam Neill shows quite a different side than usual with a frightening turn as the abusive Stewart, and Keitel is brilliantly nuanced.
In the documentary Inside The Piano, found on the DVD, Campion claims her goal with this movie was to make the audience feel like they'd been on a journey. Goal achieved.
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