Creepy and Unpleasant

Rating: 5/10 (2 March 2013)

Academy Awards and the notion of Anna Paquin's first movie intrigued me—so I didn't hesitate to grab a copy of The Piano I found at a garage sale. However I was surprised and even confused with what I saw.
Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) is a mute Scottish widow whose only passion is playing her piano. After her father arranges another marriage for her to a man in New Zealand (Sam Neill), she and her young daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) make the long trip to NZ. Once they get there Ada's new husband Alisdair decides that it's too much work to carry her piano through the muddy woods and difficult terrain to his plantation. Ada is devastated at the idea of her beloved piano rotting on the beach, so her relationship with her new husband is off to a rocky start—complicated by the fact she can only communicate with him through signs translated by Flora. Luckily Alisdar's bachelor neighbor George (Harvey Keitel) takes pity on Ada and says he will buy her piano and have it delivered to his house. He tells Ada that he will take payment for the piano in the form of music lessons that she will give him in his home. But the catch is that George doesn't really want music lessons from Adahe wants sexual favors. So as Ada struggles in her new relationship with Alisdar, she continues her, umaffair with George, in order to play her piano. And thus"romance" begins to blossom.
You'll notice I just put the word romance in quotes. I did so because I found nothing, absolutely nothing romantic about this film's characters. This movie can be described in one word: Creepy. I was really surprised at the tone, dialogue and events of this film. I expected this to be a secret romance that develops between a lonely bachelor and a woman forced into marriage with a man she hates. In fact, that's what I would say the movie was advertised as. Butthis isn't so much a movie about a secret romance as a movie about sexual harassment, emotional blackmail and I daresay, rape. It was deeply disturbing that this film seemed to romanticize a forced sexual relationship. It's not even like Ada was even attracted to George or seemed trulyhappy or comfortable with him in the beginning or middle of the film. I can't even remember her smiling with him once. The odd thing about this movie is that the acting is excellent, the locations are great, and it looks very appealing. In terms of the film itself, it is very well made. The problem is that the story is awful and Anna Paquin's character was the only one I didn't find despicable at some point. The film left me feeling uncomfortable, confused, and even violated. This is a story that creates extremely uncomfortable situations and evokes uncomfortable emotions in the viewer with little redeeming qualities. On top of that I was very confused about the reason/origin of Ada's muteness, and if she chose not to speak, or physically couldn't. This movie was not a "bad", but it was one of the most unsavory cinematic experiences I've ever had. If you want a beautiful romance or sexy story, look elsewhere. And I'd suggest counseling for anyone who truly found this film romantic.