From a strange plot came a magnificent film

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2002)

The scene is an Australian film production company's office. The time  early 1990s:
Film Company Executive: So, Ms Campion, tell me about this idea you have for a movie.
Jane Campion: It's a love triangle really, set in the 1850s. The woman is in her 30s, a mute with an illegitimate daughter. Neither she nor anyone else knows why she can't speak. She expresses herself through playing the piano. She travels from Scotland to New Zealand to take part in an arranged marriage with a settler. He's a bit icy and combs his hair before putting on his hat in order to be photographed. The third corner of the triangle is another settler who is on his own and is picking up on Maori ways, painting his face and the like. He likes to dust the piano in the nude. It's all about the development of their relationships.
FCE: OK, so we have a woman who can't speak, but plays the piano, her husband who's maybe a couple of cards short of a full deck, and a half Maori nude piano polisher?
JC: Well, yes. Oh, and it's set in a swampy rainy forest environment.
FCE: Thanks Ms Campion. Don't call us, we'll call you.

Fortunately, of course, the company did call and this riveting piece of cinema was made. How did Campion achieve the well-deserved acclaim, given the rather odd material? Simply through obeying the rules about how to make good film. All the elements, photography, music, editing, acting and, above all, direction come together to make this one of the best films of the 1990s.
It's claustrophobic atmosphere (apart from the opening and closing sequences, there's hardly a glimpse of the sun and sky, or the world beyond), the persistent rain and the rough living conditions create a haunting but compelling 100 minutes or so of viewing. Not an easy film by any means and, like any intelligent cinema, we must think for ourselves rather than have everything sign-posted in big letters.

If there's a fault it's with the hoary old problem of accents. There seems to be a jumble of English (Geordie), Irish and Scottish, but let's assume they were speaking early New Zealandish!
It comes as no surprise that this won a string of awards and is deserving of its place in the `Time Out' list of Top 100 films of all time (as voted by directors, critics and others in the business, rather than the general public).