An emotionally complex woman you will never forget...

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 1999)

Jane Campion is a director who is not afraid to create challenging films about emotionally complex women (i.e. the haunting "Sweetie" and the biography of troubled poet Janet Frame). In "The Piano", she continues this tradition with Ada, the mute Scottish mail-order bride, who is one of the most intriguing characters ever seen on film. The viewer may not empathize with Ada's situation and may even dislike her as a person but undeniably, she is a character who speaks volumes with her gestures without ever uttering a single word.
Holly Hunter gives the performance of her career, portraying Ada with such strength that whenever she "speaks" through her piano, she has the ability to silence and/or mesmerize everyone around her, especially her lover Baines (Harvey Keitel). As Ada's daughter, Anna Paquin is brilliant as the precocious girl who shows that she can match her mother's defiance and unorthodox attitudes in several pivotal scenes.
Other than the top-notch acting, the cinematography is lush and breath-taking and Ada's music is sensuous and haunting. I agree with other viewer's comments about the music seeming out of place during this time period (1840's). However, Ada was unconventional in Victorian society. She could not play the "proper" music of the time as this would have completely stifled her creativity and inner voice. Her compositions were her life force and without them, she could not survive.
I think many Americans did not know what to make of this erotic film when it was released (after garnering high acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival), but it is a true work of art that should not be missed, especially by romantics.