A weak story with no direction.

Rating: 4/10 (30 July 2003)

Yes, I only just returned to this planet and saw for the first time 'The
Piano' on video and was hugely disappointed. Not only was the
plot weak and unengaging, but the score which I used to love (and
play) became dull and overused. What we have here is the story of
a woman (Ada, played by Holly Hunter) and her daughter (Anna
Paquin) being married off to a New Zealand gent (why she is
being made to do so and why he accepts her, despite her being a
mute is unconvincing and largely ignored). She plays around with
another man, her husband finds out and quite frankly, it all ends in
tears until she leaves him. The actual message that the story is
delivering is unclear; is it simply telling a story of events? - If so it
does so tediously and without depth. Is it a political exercise in the
role of women in that time? If so it does so poorly, as Ada is clearly
a poor decision maker and both men are certainly mysogenistic.
Ultimately she becomes content with one of them - the one who
initiates their relationship by selling her piano back to her by
requesting she let him do things to her that she allows - clearly
there is no female empowerment here. Or is it simply a film about
survival - i.e. the survival of Ada against the brutality and near
denial of her only passion (the piano)? If so, you could simply have
watched the last ten minutes of the film and got the same
message.
Ada was a flawed character, but these flaws were deliberate and
obvious (why didn't she marry her daughter's father?) and also
uninteresting.
I don't remember what the other film competition was that year, but
how this one the amount of awards it did is unbelievable. Then
again, A Beautiful Mind was apparently better than The Lord of The
Rings.