THE PIANO
A film review by Max Hoffman
Copyright 1993 Max Hoffman
Seen in English with French subtitles at the Gaumont Gran Ecran Cinema, Place d' Italia, Paris
Rating: (1 to 10) ... "off the scale"... Rated "RV" for "required viewing"
Since causing a seven-minute standing ovation at its world premiere in Cannes this year, Jane Campion's film has sent waves of anticipation across the Atlantic for its impending opening in North America. Upon seeing it, you may wonder if seven minutes was enough recognition for this brilliant film! Campion (ANGEL AT MY TABLE, SWEETIE) earned her Palm d' Or award (the first ever for a woman director) for this brilliant, timeless film. THE PIANO is destined to join the pantheon of classics inhabited by CHILDREN OF THE PARADISE, SHOP ON MAIN STREET, THE HEIRESS, and CITIZEN KANE. Its simple dignity and heart stopping beauty will literally take your breath away.
Campion's deft direction and brilliantly original screenplay have drawn stunning performances from the unlikely cast of Holly Hunter, Sam Neill and Harvey Keitel. (After RESERVOIR DOGS and THE BAD LIEUTENANT, the last place you'd expect to see Keitel is in a reverently hushed Art House....) The three leads form a love triangle, centered around a mute woman, (whose unbreakable will transforms all of the participants). Campion exercises remarkable skill in keeping the amazing performances subdued enough to not overpower the beautifully tender story-line.
Holly Hunter's heart-stopping, speechless performance demands multiple viewings, and could well become a text for film students. Actress and director had every opportunity to go too far in making this a mawkish, sentimental "shoe-in" for the Oscars. Their restraint and subtly lets the brilliance of Hunter's performance creep up on you, and allows you the freedom to "take in" the rest of the film. You will not recognize Hunter as the "perky" gamin from BROADCAST NEWS or MISS FIRECRACKER. Her wan face transmits "messages" and subtexts more effectively than any performance I've seen since the advent of sound in films. Unlike those of silent films, Campion's characters are richly drawn, complex, and may leave you vacillating in your sympathy with all of the characters.
Though a startlingly original film, THE PIANO has a lot in common with the best of great Silent cniema. It has a simple premise, a plot that maintains the clarity of a biblical parable, and wonderful use of symbols and counterpoints ... a woman "without a voice" in a man's world ... a piano left out in the rain ... a small child running through the mud with angel wings ... a church pageant about Bluebeard's wives ... the "fore-shadowing" of a limb being amputated.... The film leaves many stunning images indelibly engraved in your memory (I saw the film five nights ago, and it's still with me.)
Lee Swarth's incredibly clear soundtrack captures the emotion contained in each piano note, the incessant buzz of flies, the constant sound of mud and rain. (Michael Nyman is responsible for the compelling score.) The cinematography (didn't catch name off the titles) is an equal match for the magnificence of story and performance. New Zealand literally looks like the ends of the earth though this telling camera; often the interior scenes resemble lovingly hand-tinted photos from the last century.
On the surface, it would be tempting to label this a "woman's film," this time about a wronged mail-order bride from the last century, who has to endure the indignities of her husband's "property rights." Campion's screenplay, however, defines Ada (Hunter) as a complete and complex woman, whose "will" at times attracts or repulses you. The men are no less fully drawn than Hunter's character. The performances so pull you into the present moment that you won't be able to anticipate the film's ending.
We only hear Hunter's voice briefly, at the beginning of the film, as "the voice in my mind." (She's been mute since she was 6, cause unknown). Hunter's forbidding demeanor is counterpointed by her free-spirited child-daughter (a phenomenal performance by Anna Paquin). At times, mother and daughter seem like aspects of the same person, the daughter almost "the inner child" exposed to the outside world. They share a secret language, which supplements Hunter's frequent need to spell out her needs with a pad and pencil.
Hunter's character needs little interpretation for those drawn into her orbit. Her face tells all. Hunter's piano is her "voice," which she plays with a soul-shattering touch. (Throughout the film I was marveling over how convincing Hunter was on the keyboard, wondering who was "really" playing it, and deciding to buy the soundtrack--the credits shocked me with the line "piano solos played by Holly Hunter"--her amazing range of talents doesn't stop with acting!) Hunter, a mute, unwed mother, is married off, sight unseen, to a recluse in New Zealand (Sam Neill). Hunter, daughter, and piano are unceremoniously dumped off on a blustery, remote beach, where her husband-to-be has missed his appointed meeting. One of the most unforgettable images is of mother and daughter spending their first night ashore beneath her hoop skirt, which makes an impromptu "igloo." Neil hadn't planned on transporting a piano, so it is left on the beach "to be picked up later." Later, the look on Hunter's face through a rain streaked window (echoing her unspeakable horror over the piano warping on the beach) ranks with Lillian Gish's visage through the sand-covered window in THE WIND. (In the Paris theatre where I saw THE PIANO, I could hear several members of a sophisticated-looking audience suck in their breath at that point ... by the end of the film I was very used to that sound.)
Without consulting his new wife, Neil decides to swap the piano (including "lessons") to back-woodsman Harvey Keitel for a few acres of land. Keitel suggested the deal, having had a catharsis of sorts while watching Hunter play the piano, still boxed, on the beach. Hunter is eventually drawn into a labrynth of negotiations and deceptions to maintain access to her "voice." Keitel is gradually transformed by his "lessons," and by the film's end, you've released every prejudice or preconceived notion you had about his character.
The three leads are wonderfully backlight by a rich supporting cast, (an ingredient entirely missing from big budget "star vehicles"). THE PIANO is the type of film Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to make. It has every ingredient destined to make it a classic as enduring as THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, (another film made without Hollywood's support.)
A seven-minute standing ovation at Cannes? Not half long enough, in my book, for a woman from the other side of the world who's taught us to dream again, and who has delivered the promise that enduring film classics can and will be made in our lifetime.
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