862. The Piano (1993)

Running Time: 121 minutes
Directed By: Jane Campion
Written By: Jane Campion
Main Cast: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin

A BEAUTIFULLY TRAGIC FILM

Never have I witnessed so much beauty, yet so much tragedy all in the span of two hours, than I did when I watched "The Piano" last night. Although I wasn't expecting much from Jane Campion's third feature film (especially having never seen a Campion film), I got a lot more than I bargained for and was extremely surprised by my own reaction the movie.

Holly Hunter is Ada McGrath, a Scottish born, mute woman who is sold into marriage by her father to a New Zealander. Ada has two prized possessions in life: her daughter, Flora and her piano. Upon arriving in New Zealand and meeting her new beau, Alistair (Neill) on the beach, she is transported to her new home. The relationship gets off to a rocky start, when Alistair proclaims the piano too large to transport right away and leaves it on the beach. After settling into her new digs and longing for her piano, one day Ada calls upon the help of Alistair's friend, Baines (Keitel), to guide her back to the beach so that she can play her piano for a little while. Baines reluctantly obliges, and music is soon made on the beach, with Anna playing the piano and Flora dancing and playing...Baines watches, seemingly in ecstasy. Later, Baines proposes a swap to Alistair: a piece of land that Baines owns for the piano. Alistair accepts the swap and suggests that Baines take lessons from Ada. Thus the lessons begin, with Ada beginning her trips to Baines. There's only one small hitch and that is that Baines doesn't want to play, but simply watch Ada play. As Ada plays the piano during the first day of "lessons", Baines tries to kiss her...Ada pulls away. Baines suggests that if Ada allows him to do anything he wants to her as she plays, then he'll give her back the piano. Ada agrees to the stipulation of one visit for every black key on the piano. At first, Baines doesn't want much. A simple touch of here skin through her torn stockings, kissing, to smell her jacket...Baines has fallen in love and Ada soon realizes that she loves Baines and one day lets her lust get the best of her and submits her body to the hands of Mr. Baines.

What a tragic, bleak story "The Piano" was. Even though there were some scenes of happiness in the film, there was still a damper over the whole film and believe me folks, that's not a complaint. I loved the atmosphere that this film presented and I was really able to lose myself in the dark, passionate, beautiful, tragic story. With a title like "The Piano" you'd expect a great score and it was a great one, a score that really added to the dreariness of the entire movie. Jane Campion immediately earned herself a mental note in my head, and I can't wait to check out more of her films, as she seems to have a knack for delivering the types of tragic stories that I appreciate, but that others might call too depressing. The scenes on the beach, with Ada playing the piano and Flora dancing on the shore were marvelous and the cinematographer needs a kudos too, as he was really able to capture some beautiful shots. I didn't keep track enough to notice, but thinking back, I think that the entire movie has an overcast to it - very dark, rainy, dreary - except for the scenes where Ada is playing the piano, drawing some connections to the point that Ada is only truly happy when her fingers are tapping the eighty-eight keys.

Let's chat about the cast for a bit. I was happy for my old favorite Harvey Keitel, as he isn't your typical cast choice to play the object of desire to a married woman, but he pulled it off well and he and Holly Hunter had a great deal of chemistry, in my view. Who knew Holly Hunter had this performance in her? When I think Holly Hunter I always think of Ed from "Raising Arizona" and never associate her with the type of actress that she turned out being in "The Piano". She is a great actress and no doubt deserved her Academy Award for Best Actress. The sex scenes between those two, while moderately graphic, were still handled in a very classy way, in my view and really stirred up a feeling of passion in this viewer.

SPOILER ALERT!

The ONLY thing that I'll gripe about is the ending and as cold as it might sound, I wish Campion had killed Ada at the end. Campion had her in the river, her foot tied to a piano and she was moments from drowning and she escaped and was pulled to safety. To me, the ending didn't fit in with the rest of the movie...a movie that I took as a very tragic story. In my opinion, for the ending to fit in, Ada should've died and it would've been a heartbreaking, yet amazing movie. But that's just my opinion and the movie still managed to shock me, as I had absolutely no hopes for this one and it turned out to be a top notch contender in the "1001" book.

RATING: 9/10 Yep, I'm deducting one point for the ending, otherwise this movie was brilliant and I can't wait to see more Campion film. Please suggest any in the form of comments, if you have a favorite.

MOVIES WATCHED: 174
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 827

October 28, 2010 5:50pm