The Piano
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.00 You Save: $1.98 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $7.95 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Piano
Movie Review: Worth watching for the Symbolism alone
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie when it first came out in theaters in 93 and it has continued to haunt me ever since. Watching it again last night, I realized once more what a wonderful movie it is--rich in symbolism, character, excellent acting, and a story so deep and beautiful it won't leave your brain.
Many reviewers have given a plot synopsis but I want to talk about the way the piano itself is used in the movie. It is a beautiful instrument and from the start of the movie we can see that Ada loves it. We soon see why she is so attached to it--it is literally her voice since she has not spoken since the age of 6. When she and her daughter are dumped on the shores of New Zealand, her new husband refuses to acknowlege her need to have the piano with her. He leaves it behind despite her pleas that they take it rather than her clothes or household goods. There is a very poingnanant scene with Ada standing on a cliff and looking out to the beach at the piano with such longing in her eyes. It is clear she is leaving a part of herself behind--perhaps the most important part and yet her oaf of a husband completely misses it.
It is Bains, the neighbor and friend of Ada's husband who finally grasps the significance of the piano. At Ada's insistance, he takes her and her daughter back to the beach so she can play her beloved piano and 'speak' for the first time in days. You can see by the way her face lightens from the harsh mask it has been through most of the movie so far how much this means to Ada. She actually smiles and her movments lose their stiffness and become flowing as she lets the music move through her, saying things impossible to express through words. Bains displays a quality here that Ada's husband has little of--patience. He stays on the beach and listens to Ada play most of the day. There is another interesting piece of symbolism at the end of this scene where Ada walks in the wet sand, leaving her footprints behind. Her daughter runs to join her, walking in the same set of footprints and after a moment's hesitation, Bains also follows, adding his footprints to hers and making the track a single one--forshadowing the end of the film in which the three of them will form a family.
After hearing Ada play, Bains is captivated by her. He arranges with her lunk of a husband to buy the piano and Ada is forced to give him lessons. At first she has nothing but contempt for Bains whom she considers ignorant because he can't read but after they strike their bargain--1 black key on the piano keyboard for one sexual favor in order for Ada to earn her piano back--she gradually begins to see him in another light.
Much has been made in other reviews of the fact that Bains proposes such a bargain to Ada in the first place. But this is not the act of a man bent solely on gratuitous sexual gratification--rather it is the only way Bains can think of to make Ada his--to bring the elusive and aloof woman down to his level so he can love her and give her a chance to love him. Throughout the movie it is clear that Bains is deeply moved by every aspect of Ada--the way she looks, the way she expresses herself through music, the play of muscles under her skin as she 'speaks' through the piano, even her scent. And it is clear that he understands the significance of the piano because he treats it as an extension of Ada herself. In one evocative scene, he takes off his clothes and uses them to polish the richly carved wood of the instrument after Ada has gone. He touches the piano with reverence and love, using the same gestures that he later uses with Ada herself when he caresses her body.
I must digress here to say that many reviewers have commented on the full frontal nudity of both Ada (Holly Hunter) and Bains (Harvey Keitel) in the movie. Some people seem to think it is gratuitous but I really liked it because I felt it added to the symbolic quality of the film. Bains looks like you might expect a New Zealand farmer to look--his body is hard and deeply tanned from working in the sun--he is everything that is rough and rugged and masculine. In contrast, Ada is pale and fragile looking--everything soft and feminine and when she does finally yield to Bains with her whole heart, the differnces between them combine to make a deeply sensual scene.
It is in the love scene that we first see the beginning of the end of the piano. Ada, who hasn't spoken a word out loud since she was 6, says something we can't quite catch while she and Bains are making love. Bains doesn't quite catch it either but he urges her to 'whisper it' in his ear which she does. Now that Bains has unlocked her voice, we can see that the piano is going to become obsolete. And in fact, at the end of the film when she and her daughter are leaving via canoe with Bains, Ada orders that it be pushed overboard. The piano now symbolizes her old life, a life she wants to leave behind forever. But it almost takes her with it--she nearly drowns with her piano when her foot catches in the ropes that bind it. She struggles free at the last moment as much to her own surprise. She is surprised that her will has chosen to live rather than to die with the piano which now symbolises the stagnant life she is leaving behind.
At the end of the film we see Ada learning to speak. Though she still plays the piano, it is no longer her sole means of communication. She has grown from a cold, silent woman to a warm and loving one, the change fostered by Bains' love and understanding. He has helped her find her true voice and let go of her past though in her dreams she still sees herself tied to the piano which rests at the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps she sees the part of herself she had to leave behind in order to grow and find true happiness and self fulfillment.
The Piano is a moving and beautiful film, one of my top five favorties of all time. I can't say enough about this lovely movie. Rent or buy it today and see what I mean.
Movie Review: A graceful escape into a world more human than ourselves...
Summary: 5 Stars
I had wanted to see `The Piano' for years, since I was about fifteen I think. I remember reading this extensive review for it lauding it as one of the most deeply moving and touching films of the 20th century. It took me until early this year before I actually got around to seeing it, and I must say that after a slew of repeat viewings I can honestly understand why that review held this film on such a pedestal. `The Piano' may to many seem like there is not much to it, or that what is here is barely given a chance for explanation. There are many actions and resulting consequences that seem out of place of character and even may be frustration (and most definitely startling) but when one takes the time to really break this film down there is so much explanation to be found within the subtleties in each frame that one is brought to a whole other understanding of the film.
`The Piano' tells the tale of Ada McGrath, a mute woman living in 1850's New Zealand. Ada has been mute, by choice, since age six when she just decided not to speak. Through her mind's voice she tells us that she has been offered in marriage to farmer Alisdair Stewart and so she travels with her young daughter Flora and her beloved piano by boat to meet him. She soon finds herself being led to her new home, her piano being left behind on the beach. Her husband Alisdair, not truly understanding how to reciprocate love and affection, offers her piano to native George Baines for some of his land. In a desperate attempt for affection Baines offers to allow Ada to purchase her piano back by performing `favors' for him, and Ada, in her desperation to have her `voice' back, agrees.
Some may simply call this film a feminist film; a film that does nothing more than illustrate the woman's lack of a voice in this male dominated society. That label gravely shortchanges what writer/director Jan Campion has accomplished with this cinematic masterpiece.
`The Piano' bleeds a humanity that feels more human than we ourselves.
All of the four central characters are seeking a form of redemption or gratification for their lives. This simple truth speaks to of much deeper humanity that runs through all of our veins. We all need to feel needed and complete, and all of these characters strung within Campions web are striving for that very feeling. Ada is perhaps the most obvious of the four, for her beating heart is felt throughout each passing scene. Ada longs to feel a connection with someone, the same connection she feels when gracing the keys of her piano. She longs to have someone need her for who she is, and understand her for who she is. Her husband seems disinterested with Ada the person, for he is quick to disregard the one object that comes closest to defining her. George, trying to seek redemption from a past of rejection, sees the piano as an opportunity to find that redemption within the arms of Ada. Flora is young and naïve and truly loves her mother, but her loyalty is tested when she feels as though she is playing second fiddle to her mother's lover, George. Her jealousy gives way to foolishness, and her foolishness places her mother in harms way. Alisdair may seem like the simplest character here, for his oppressive husband character has been played before, but Alisdair struggles to rise above his own ignorance to gain the affections of a woman he can't quite understand.
The performances by the entire cast are flawless and really elevate this beautiful film. Both Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin earned those Oscar's, both giving riveting performances and crawling deep within the psyche of their characters. Without saying but a few words Hunter is able to speak volumes, her voice being heard on every frame. Harvey Keitel is amazing as George, restrained and tempered and believable as a lover, which is not something I was sure he could pull off. Sam Neill, though, is the real male standout. His grasp of Alisdair's ignorance and desperation is resounding. The one scene where his wife attempts to give him pleasure is emotionally stirring as you watch Alisdair throw it all away because he simply doesn't understand.
Jan Campion must receive the bulk of the credit though, for her construction of this film is majestic to say the least. She truly captures the heart of each character, weaving the audience into each frame and leaving us begging for more. The cinematography is gripping and magnetic, each frame gently settling down on the images below; and the symbolism displayed with just the slightest scene echoes loudly as the film credits begin to roll.
`The Piano' appears to leave a lot of questions unanswered, but the truth of the matter is that if you look deeply into what you are witnessing the answers themselves are there to be found. There are few films this important, and truly few films this glorious. Everything is top notch, from the delicate script to the effortless acting to the serene camera work. `The Piano' is a cinematic wonder that is unrivaled, a film that truly defines the very word; film.
Movie Review: an amazing paradox
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first saw this film several years ago, I was disturbed by it. I flat out did not like it...every character was unlikeable. Mr. Stewart (Sam Neill) was so strange and selfish towards his wife, especially when he refused to believe that her piano was her intrumental "voice" and prized possession, and that she needed it like she needed air to survive; Ida (Holly Hunter)was so peculiar in many ways; Baines (Harvey Keitel) took away Ada's beloved piano and wanted strange sexual favors in return--so how was he a true lover to her? The little daughter (Anna Paquin) betrayed her mother...and so on.
But really there is more to it then simply meets the eye. Ada's father(who has no speaking part in the film) wants her married off...just to get rid of this burden that he has. He does this because, after all, who was going to marry a mute woman with an illigitimate child? He sure does not want her. He marries her off---and guess what? He marries her off to a man living in New Zealand--to the other side of the world. It might as well be to another planet in the solar system.
New Zealand is no Scotland, and Ada finds herself stuck in strange new world. It's not a rolling-green, hilled countryside that is cultured and refined like her homeland. Its a foreign frontier, a rugged, isolated, mud-messed place of a land that is filled with the Maori natives who are as different from Ada as can be. They don't speak the same language. They don't understand her. She does not understand them. A few white missionaries are close by, but they are oddly amuzing and out-of-touch as can be, and Ada will never be able to befriend them, nor will they like her.
She had no choice to marry Mr. Stewart, so she simply has to make the best of it. She does not want him. He truly repulses her.
So why isn't she instantly in love with her husband? This man is just as complicated as she is. He thinks that her muteness means that she is dumb, less than a human being (like a "silent" pet, the one missionary lady in the film refers to her as). He will never understand her because he cannot even understand himself.
Ada does not know why she stopped talking at the age of 6. "My father thinks it is a dark talent, and the day I take it in my head to stop breathing will be my last". Ada only gives narration in the beginning of the film, and in the end. "The voice you hear is not my speaking voice, but my mind's voice...".
Holly Hunter has a demanding role in this movie. No wonder she got the praise and the award for her peformance! She is amazing in it!
Ada's daughter often translates and is a spokesperson for her mother. She can be adorable, but also wickedly precocious. Ada begs Baines to take her back to the beach where he and Stewart and some Maori people picked her up from her arrival. At first, Ada is a bother him. He can't do it....he does not have the time. Soon, he gives in.
Some really beautiful shots are in this next scene. Ada plays her beloved piano again. For the first time, she actually smiles in this film (Ada is not addicted to happiness). Baines may be illiterate, and less cultured than her, but this man is realizing that he has found a beatiful gem in Ada. She loves her piano. Her playing mystifies him. From that time on, he realizes that he must have her heart. But how?
Only through getting the piano can Baines connect with Ada. What he does in buying her piano from her husband seems cruel, but Baines knows Ada will never go for him. She sees him as an ignorant oaf. Maybe he can have her and her lovely piano? But he has a wife in England (one can imagine that this was a loveless marriage, too). She is married to Stewart, his "possession".
Ada will never really want him, will she?
You will have to watch it to find it out for yourselves.
I do think this is a raw film, full of beauty, ugly cruelties, and mystery. Don't let the kids watch it, but if you want a movie that makes you think, and one that you want to talk about with others, watch it.
Movie Review: Exquisite erotic classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Jane Campion's "The Piano" does what many truly great films do: It inspires fascinating discussion and provokes mixed reactions. The male friend with whom I saw it back in 1993 and I were so enthralled that we kept our significant others waiting to leave for our respective Christmas vacations because we kept phoning each other to discuss symbolism and interesting themes in the movie. While I continue to absolutely love the film, I also recognize why some viewers have not shared my reaction. Perhaps you have to have at least considered a forbidden love affair or perhaps you have to have found yourself trapped in a relationship where you feel you have lost your voice to appreciate what Campion explores.The story centers around Ada (Holly Hunter in an Oscar-winning performance) and her daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin--who also won an Oscar for her extraordinary performance). They leave their upper-class home in Scotland after Ada's father (apparently) arranges her marriage. Ada, who has willed herself not to speak since age 6, expresses herself through her beloved piano.
The true story of who fathered Flora is never revealed in the movie, but the context suggests that she is Ada's illegimate child born from an illicit affair. The hinted-at story of Flora's conception provides a key to understanding both why Ada later begins an affair with her New Zealand neighbor Baines (Harvey Keitel) and why she makes a mail-order marriage in the first place. I suspect that Ada's aging father may have wanted to see her settled--preferably far away so that her unconventional behavior would no longer be a source of social embarassment--and given Ada's muteness and out-of-wedlock child, her father probably couldn't find a suitable suitor in mid-Victorian Scotland.
Stewart (Sam Neill) first encounters his future wife on a lonesome gray beach surrounded by her crated belongings. His Maori porters begin carrying many household items up the muddy path to his dreary homestead. But Stewart refuses to bring the piano along, despite Ada's apparent distress and Flora's pleas that her mother MUST have her piano.
Ada's piano, abandoned on the barren New Zealand beach, captures the sense of what 19th century colonial life might have been like for too many women--treasured possessions, the last ties to "civilization" left behind.
Rendered voiceless without her piano, Ada begs Stewart to return for her instrument through notes and more pleas from Flora. Finally she persuades Baines--a colonist whose tattoed face evidences the extent to which he has "gone native" and who is considered less civilized by his neighbors--to guide her back to the beach. Ada comes to life again as she, at last, gets to play. Drawn by her passion for the piano, Baines arranges with Stewart to trade land for the piano. Without consulting his wife, Stewart assures him that Ada will provide lessons too.
During first of these lessons, Ada strikes her own bargain with Baines, whom she still considers a boor: She will trade sexual favors to earn back her piano, one key at a time. Ultimately, her reluctant bargain grows into full-blown love and passion. The dark, brooding tone of "The Piano," however, suggests that something in this situation will go tragically, and probably violently, wrong.
Campion has filled her movie with haunting piano music (actually played by Hunter) and intriguing imagery. The metaphor of piano as voice and losing and regaining one's voice, Flora's role in changing her mother's fate, the question of whether Ada's bargain reflects a woman taking control of her life or just being victimized in a different way, and many other complexities make this a movie worth watching again and again and again.
Movie Review: Disturbing - Beautiful - Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
I missed this movie in the theaters 10 years ago, and saw it for the first time purely by chance on HBO recently. I was so enchanted that I watched each of the next three showings in the very same day, and then bought the DVD for my collection. It is one of the most unique, truly deep, thought provoking, awe-inspiring, movies I've seen in a while. The drama is almost Biblical, the love story almost Shakespearian in quality (think Othello). I was enraptured by the music, the crashing waves, and the amazing synergy between the players. And Harvey Keitel - who knew? Those gangster/tough guy roles just don't even touch this man's talent. George Baines is intense, tender, passionate, a total jerk - so it would seem - but underneath the gruff exterior lies the heart of a prince. Keitel really puts it all out there, literally and figuratively. It's a risky role and it works for him.
Holly Hunter was spectacular, as usual, but in this film the fast-talking, high-energy woman you came to know in "Broadcast News" or "Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom" must dig deep. Ada's silences surpass powerful, she conveys more with her facial expressions than most people say out loud in a lifetime. Speech is clearly an overrated and overused form of communication. Ada's will is almost a character onto itself. And one can see clearly that no one is more surprised by her emerging emotions and unfolding events than she.
Sam Neill's character is sad, broken, pathetic, frightening, and your basic worst nightmare all at once. Jealousy is indeed and ugly and and devastating emotion.
I disagree with a few of the other reviewers about Anna Paquin's character, Flora. Some saw Flora as innocent. Watch closely. She's diabolical, almost schizophrenic. She has the wide-eyed, innocent visage of a pathological liar. Note the scene with the photograph, the dog under the porch, her conversations with the other women in the village (where you begin to see her turn on her mother as she realizes that she's being replaced as the center of her mother's universe) and when her final act of betrayal results in horrific violence (don't think for a second that she didn't know what she was doing), then note her repentence, and subsequent absolution (the soiled angel wings in the river), and her redemption. Miss Paquin could never be considered a "child star" she's already shown more maturity than many adults in film today.
And of course, the Piano, the center of it all, Ada's voice, the music in this movie is so moving and expressive, so perfect for each scene. My next purchase is the soundtrack.
In sum, heart-achingly beautiful, devastatingly real and dream-like all at once. I highly recommend.