The Piano

If you haven't seen it already (the film, not Harvey Keitel's dick, but that's in it as well) you now have the chance to catch up on Jane Campion's (Angel At My Table, Sweetie) best film (watch for Portrait Of A Lady). Holly Hunter (also to be seen this term in Copycat) plays Ada, a mute (a metaphor for her lack of voice as a woman) who can only communicate in two ways, through her daughter (Anna Paquin) using a private sign language, and through her piano. She enters into an arranged marriage with Sam Neill's landowner, and she is transported to a remote beach. Her piano is left on the beach by Neil. When Harvey Keitel falls for Ada he retrieves the piano and uses this as a way to ellicit favors from her. Thus a love triangle is created.

Although the film may have been labelled 'chick flick' by neanderthal types, the film is far more accessible. Certainly the film does primarily deal with (that dreaded phrase) "women's issues", yet this is far more skillfully dealt with than most Hollywood weepies. Michael Nyman's score is, perhaps, the best use of music in a film for a long time. It is relied upon as Ada's only expression of emotion and was stupidly passed over for an oscar (it was probably as important in winning the oscar for Hunter as anything she did herself).

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