Worst movie I ever paid to see

Rating: 1/10 (10 April 2017)

Even 24 years later I can recall how bad this movie was. I thought to take my fiancé to this as we are both amateur classical musicians, the title suggested a musical theme, I like Sam Neill, and early reviews had raved. We saw it in a theater just off the Princeton campus, full of date-night couples with the guys sucking up a chick-flick. The music was a catastrophic disappointment. The main character plays the same awful insipid piano tune the entire movie. The tune was anachronistic- clearly written in the late 20th century by a mediocre film composer, and being played in a mid-19th century setting. It was difficult to suspend disbelief every time it was played. Was hoping for some Beethoven Piano sonata music or at least something from the era. To my ear, she might just as well have been playing "Hey Jude". The characters engendered no empathy in me. As an example, near the end of the movie the piano is being moved by boat and falls overboard, entangling the Holly Hunter character and dragging her down to the bottom of the ocean. Things look bad for her, and I was delighted. "Thank God this movie is over!" As I prepared to get up to leave, the guy jumps overboard, rescues her, and the movie goes on another ten minutes or so. Ugh. When the credits finally started I couldn't help myself, and blurted out sarcastically "My, that was uplifting." I think every guy in the theater erupted laughing (and probably ruined their chances for the night given the tough Princeton-feminist crowd). I thought to say that this is the worst "guy movie" ever made, but my fiancé, now wife of 20 years, never passes on an opportunity to rant about this horrible film. I'm pretty sure I've always had almost zero respect for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, but the awards this film received were confirmatory. Holly Hunter's "Best Actress" award (she had NO LINES!) makes Obama's Nobel Peace Prize look legit.