The Piano

Rating:
Summary: Love is a mysterious music
Review: This film shows how music can become the strongest side of a personality when a woman who cannot talk expresses herself on the keys of a piano : she plays music to live inside herself and to be in harmony with the world and particularly her daughter. Married from a distance by her family to an unknown man, she finds he is absolutely negative about the piano, her piano, that will stay on the beach. But a neighbor will get the piano, let her play, though his attraction and interest is obviously sexual. She will yield to his desire because the piano, the music are bridges between them. This will lead to a drama, a mutilation, a separation, an elopement, the drowning of the piano, the near drowning of the woman, and a better future in spite of a prosthesis to compensate for the mutilation. She has met the man she loves and that love came from her music and her piano. As such the film is rather naive and simple. What makes it a great film is that it is situated in New Zealand, though the woman's family is English. Two other levels of characterization of the husband intervene in this situation. First his gross and unrespectful treatment of the local population, the Maoris. He more or less exploits them, he does not try to speak their language, he does not try to have any contact with them, except when he needs them to work for him. The second element is his conception of his farm : he does not take into account the local resistance at his opening some land for his farm because that land is an ancient and traditional burying area for the local population. He refuses to take that into account and he does what he wants, and only what he wants. In other words he is a born dominator and has not heard of the ecocultural dimension of life : it is true he lives at the beginning of the colonization of New Zealand and his attitude is that of a colonial settler. And moreover he is unable to cope with his wife, to understand her desire and need of her piano, and then to make himself be desired and loved, even in spite of her attempts. It is this slow and precise description of the main characters of the film and their relations to the local population that makes the film interesting, not to speak of the acting which is excellent, and has to be so in those constantly refrained and dominated feelings that are at stake.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU


Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: I just viewed this film again after having not seen it for several years. There are those rare moments in my life when I am speechless, but I feel this way towards Jane Campion's masterpiece because it is such a magnificent artistic accomplishment. Unsurprisingly, a film that is so symbolic in nature and requires visual as well as auditory concentration because of its complexity would not resonate well with mainstream audiences. Jane Campion is a master with film and the film community is blessed to have her. With its beautiful, dreamy images, I know this film will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Rating:
Summary: Review 101
Review: This is how to write a review for The Piano:

1. You complain about Ada choosing not to speak. Oh so frustrating.

2. You complain about the nudity, because human bodies are disgusting and should never be seen.

3. You complain about how gloomy the film was. Only happy movies should be allowed to be made.

4. You call the film "pretentious" because you failed to understand it.

Rating:
Summary: The erotism made music !
Review: The piano is my favorite instrument . The musical literature has been widely generous with it. Since Bach to Mozart , and from Beethoven to Shostakovich , the piano has proved with all the deserved respect to the rest of the instruments the unbeatable king.
And that special profile that incorporean majesty given through the pianissimos and crescendos makes of it a perfect caleidoscope of sensations and auditive fragancies according the tonal color .
The piano is one the supreme films of the nineties . Conceived as a tribute for the female soul , the movie explores deep laberynths in the soul of a married but unsatisfied woman who only through the music she is friendly about her inners demons and obviously hidden desires .
The decisive argument for developing a poetic and dazzling script where Holy Hunter plays a superb role and Harvey Keitel shows his unexhaustive actoral powers. The locations are really sumptuous with the precise light quantity and the marvelous landscapes working out as an additional actor . The dark forest , the unbeatable , the exquisite close ups and one superb script . Anna Paquin steals the show and excels among all these giants actors .
The credits go besides, to Michael Nyman who inspired himself with such commitment level to offer us his fine moods for this film .
Sublime is one common characteristic of the masterpieces .
And this is one of them.


Rating:
Summary: Pretentious Melodramatic Cinema
Review: Jane Campion's "The Piano" comes across as nothing more than a pretentious and dull piece of melo-dramatic cinema. Its only saving grace is the beutiful cinematography of New Zealand's untamed wilderness and a strong performance by Harvey Keitel.

One finds it hard to associate with either Ada (Holly Hunter) or her pretentious daughter Flora (Anna Paquin.) Their prudish and overly self-righteous personalities simply evoke no sympathy. One can only take so much of a capricious girl going into screaming tantrums with every other scene. One comes out feeling that if Ada's beloved piano and previous cozy life were so important to her she should have stayed home in Scotland instead of coming to the jungles of New Zealand.

Harvey Keitel's performance as the half-Maori mysogenist was the only decent role in the movie. Overall, a very forgettable melo-drama about a prudish woman with a pretentious and insolent daughter who both feel that life in the colonies should revolve only around their needs. A real yawner where the only things that keep you awake are the overly irritating temper tantrums of Anna Paquin's character. Spare yourselves the irritation: watch a Discovery special on New Zealand, put it on mute, and listen to Chopin or Schubert and you'll have a much better movie that you can also properly title "The Piano".