Three Decades Later, ‘The Piano’ Still Plays Splendidly

The re-release of Jane Campion’s 1993 film, “The Piano,” in 4k restoration, hit select theaters on July 24th. Originally the picture premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Palme d’Or, making Ms. Campion the first female director to be a recipient of this award. Three decades after the initial release, this Kiwi Gothic remains a haunting story that displays the consequences and contradictions of being a woman in the mid-nineteenth century.The film opens with Ada McGrath, a Scottish woman played by Holly Hunter, telling the viewers that the voice we are hearing is in her head. She has been mute since childhood but does not believe herself to be silent because of her constant desire to play piano. She tells the audience that her father has married her off to a man she has not met before. We don’t hear her voice again until the end of the film, instead the transfixing score composed by Michael Nyman accompanies Ada when she has access to her piano.Waves crash as members of a ship’s crew carry Ada and her young daughter Flora, played by a precocious Anna Paquin, through shallow water to a beach in New Zealand. Mother and daughter spend the night on the shore, building a makeshift tent with a hoop skirt cage. By the light of a candle, Ada tells Flora stories in her unique expression of signing formed from a blend of languages. The next morning, they are awoken by Ada’s soon-to-be-husband, Alisdair Stewart (the late Sam Neill) with his friend George Baines (Harvey Keitel) and a group of Māori people. They collect her trunks but leave the piano on the beach despite Ada’s pleas to bring it with them. When Alisdair refuses to go back and collect the piano, this sets the course of events that will result in violence. When Alisdair is away, Ada and Flora run to George’s house to ask if he will get the piano, muddying their gowns as they traverse through the woods. He will not bring the piano to her but he takes them to the beach where Ada plays until the sun sets. When George asks Alisdair if he can have the piano, Alisdair agrees and suggests that Ada teach him to play. She is not pleased with this arrangement. George proposes that she can win back her piano if she lifts up her skirt while she plays. His demands escalate with each visit. Initially she resists him, acquiescing only to have access to the piano. There is a particular cruelty in withholding the only instrument that Ada audibly communicates through.Sam Neill in ‘The Piano.’ Wikimedia CommonsEach main character reveals the best and worst of themselves, as if to make the viewer overcome their initial judgements and forgive when possible. Ms. Campion has a firm grasp on a feminist narrative, but the representation of Māori people is one-dimensional. During a community production of Bluebeard, when the bloody heads of his six wives seemingly float in the air with a trick of a sheet, the Māori audience members think the actors have really been beheaded. This scene highlights how the colonists have normalized violence and find entertainment in depicting it, while also suggesting the Māori people are gullible. The director’s attempt to represent both the unwelcome “taming” of the luscious land and the female body at the hands of Alisdair and George is therefore only able to be partially effective. The film subverts sexual desire but can be said to further an imperial English perspective.As the film goes on, Ada lies in bed, examining her face in the mirror before kissing herself, like a cinematic representation of Diego Velázquez’s “Rokeby Venus” or Titian’s “Venus with a Mirror.” This is the Venus effect in full force the subject who has been gazed at through a voyeuristic lens is finally enjoying her own beauty. The true nature of Ada’s interest in George is unclear, as his actions are forceful and manipulative. I found myself wishing for an easier way to categorize their dynamic. I hope for better for Ada, as I believe is Ms. Campion’s intention.Flora sees Ada and George together, and out of loyalty to her stepfather, tells him what she has seen. Alisdair wants affection from his wife, but does not like the gently domineering way she attempts intimacy with him, so he forces himself on her. When Ada continues to express desire for George, Alisdair drags her outside and chops off her index finger with an ax in front of Flora. Mrs. Hunter’s acting abilities are highlighted in this scene, where Ada must suffer silently, relying on her facial expressions and body language to communicate her despair. Alisdair holds a gun to George’s face but does not shoot; there are no physical consequences for the men.The strength of the film lies in its foreshadowing through beautiful imagery. Shots linger on fingers and light glints off axes. A sense of dread underlies scenes of lush fabric and knotted trees. The bond between mother and daughter is the throughline that offers hope. As George, Ada, and Flora leave to start a new life together, they travel with the piano precariously tied to their boat. Ada communicates that she wants to throw the piano overboard, and as it tips into the sea, she slides her foot into the center of the coil. She does not succumb to the water and instead releases her foot, rising to the surface. The film walks a delicate line between lustful and unsettling, but the lingering note is one of ultimate resilience.

Three Decades Later, ‘The Piano’ Still Plays Splendidly

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