Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3888 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-02-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English, Maori
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jane Campion's The Piano struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerised by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face, and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. The Piano won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin and Campion's screenplay. --Jim Emerson

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jane Campion's The Piano struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerised by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. The Piano won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin and Campion's screenplay. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

Synopsis
A woman, her daughter and her piano arrive in the remote backlands of 19th Century New Zealand for an arranged marriage. But her future husband refuses to move the piano from the beach. In order that she might get her piano back she agrees certain favours with an illiterate neighbour.

Customer Reviews

The Piano
I had this film on video tape, and it has been watched, and loaned out to friends so many times, it's worn out. So, I had to but the DVD!!!!!!!!!!!
The special edition DVD is fascinating because if you already love the film, you are given an insight into the mind of the writer. I also loved watching the interview with the composer, being a keen piano player. The film is quite dark, dramatic and moody and the music is beautiful, matching perfectly the whole feel of the movie. Oh, and Holly Hunter actually plays the piano! Buy it!You won't be disappointed.

Book? What book?
I am not sure what others are referring to when they say this film is not as good as the 'book it is based upon' - because The Piano is a total original. The screenplay is not based on a book and was written directly for the screen (which is also one of the three Oscars it deservedly won). I believe there may have been a novelisation that followed the film, but the fierce artistic vision that Campion committed to celluloid is where it all starts - it is won that invites people to unravel it's mysteries, but remains ambiguous and untenable enough that they never really can be. An amazing film.

Amazing performances, beautifully haunting movie...
The Piano is an amazing tale of lust, envy, jealousy, betrayal and female identity and independence. Set in the mid nineteenth century, Ada McGrath is shipped off with her daughter Flora and their scant belongings to New Zealand, the reason being her arranged marriage to a somewhat successful land owner. Ada's beloved piano makes the journey with her.

The visually haunting opening scene of her arrival on the beach is perhaps one of the most haunting movie openings I think I've ever seen. From the beginning you sense her suffocating sense of misplacement and isolation, her sense of being out of place in the rain drenched, mud soaked South Island is overpowering (you have to remember this was way back when the area was hardly populated except by natives and there were few roads etc).

Holly Hunter excells, as usual, in her role, deservedly winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a woman who chooses to be mute and has not spoken since she was six years old. Ada's true love, is her piano, which is her emotional and symbolic voice, being her most powerful expression of emotion and spirit. Ada takes an instant dislike of her new husband (Sam Neil) when he refuses to bring her piano up from the beach, and when an illiterate neighbour George Baines (played by Harvey Keitel) decides to bring her piano to his home, he strikes up a deal with her, formulating a way for her to earn it back. He proposes that for every lesson she gives, he gets to perform one sexual act. In the beginning, Ada despises George for his immoral, lustful blackmailing, however slowly, tacitly, their relationship transforms into a strong emotional and intellectual bond, and their lives spiral down into a frenzy of lust, deadly jealousy, envy and tragedy. The movie is full of symbolism and should be read metaphorically rather than literally. Passion is abundant, and as a pianist, I felt her intense passion for playing, which offered not only a voice for her to express herself with, but formed a part integral to her identity.

It is long, and quite slow to get into but very rewarding, and the haunting climax, and ending will leave you breathless but with a feeling of fullfilment.

I watch it again and again, and realise each time more and more symbolism within the movie. Amazing, Jane Campion deserved her praise and awards, while Anna Paquin became the youngest actress ever to win an Academy Award, whilst Holly Hunter excels in the peformance of a lifetime.

Tagged as one of the best movies of the last 30 years of the twentieth century?... I certainly think so.