Not just another costume drama, Jane Campion's The Piano lushly visualizes the emotional complexities of a 19th century woman's sexual awakening.

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2009)

The Piano is one of those rare films that is not just about a story, or some characters, but about a whole universe of feeling. The story is about a mute female pianist (Holly Hunter) and her daughter (Anna Paquin), set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater.
The Piano is an unusual period piece that combines music, imagery and performance in ways that are tremendously atmpospheric; for its otherworldly seriousness, the film could be (and has been) easily mocked, and the interiority of its characters means it remains a romance easier to admire from distance than to embrace wholeheartedly. But there are grand passions beneath its starkly beautiful surface, of a kind the cinema had scarcely witnessed. The film shared the Palme d'Or as best film at Cannes in 1993; director Jane Campion became the first female film-maker to win the award. Holly Hunter won the award for best actress.