I don’t remember whether it was John Keats or Jane Campion I first fell in love with. But undoubtedly, Bright Star has a special place in my heart. As a poem and as the film that so closely resembles the former. My initial crush turned long-lasting love for director Jane Campion has led me on a quest to discover the rest of her celebrated filmography.

Previous posts: The Shorts, 2 Friends, Sweetie, An Angel At My Table

The Piano was actually the first Jane Campion movie I ever saw, a few years before Bright Star stole my heart. It was one of those left-over DVDs in a Swedish cabin that I had visited with my mother and sister when I was a young teenager. I remember liking it but I was just a few years too young to fit into the target audience, so I didn’t completely understand the theme and couldn’t quite follow the characters’ motivations. There couldn’t have been a better time to rewatch this for me, than now.

The film is set in 1800s in a frontier town in New Zealand, where a mute widowed Scotswoman called Ada is settling into an arranged marriage with frontiersman Alisdair. Ada brings her daughter Flora, as well as her beloved piano. To her great sorrow, Alisdair trades the piano to another frontiersman called Baines for some land. Baines in turn offers Ada to earn the piano back in exchange for visiting and playing for him, as well as some “other things he would like to do”. Eventually, Ada falls for him.

Campion’s films so far have all centered around women that didn’t fit into society’s norms, but The Piano is taking that theme to an extreme. This is mainly due to the setting and time period; Ada is a young widowed mother, a mute by choice who thinks most people talk rubbish anyway. She’s quite far from the friendly, talkative feminine ideal of the 1800s. But she doesn’t fit in with the Maori either, having oppressed her own feelings and desires for a long time. Her relationship with Baines treads a fine line between sexual harassment and romance, but Campion manages to direct these scenes extremely well. It’s so hard to judge these things, but to me, it feels like Baines didn’t do much wrong. He communicated his feelings well, which we don’t see that often in male characters from this time period. He “even” asks for consent, though indirectly. It’s Ada who is completely closed up, yet slowly feels a desire wakening inside of her.

What I love about this film is its atmosphere: it’s very raw and naturalistic, dramatic without crushing you. You get to see the story unfold from many different perspectives though the characters are quite hard to read, I related a lot to Ada. She just had that amazing resoluteness and she was incredibly brave, but at the same time not always quite sure what she wanted. I only really began to notice Holly Hunter as an actress a short while ago, so now I was surprised to learn that this was her. She definitely gives the performance of a life time. Anna Paquin is great too – I remember finding out she won the Oscar for this while I was binging True Blood. She was a natural talent and it’s a bit sad that she hasn’t had more opportunities to shine. Harvey Keitel is wonderful and, dare I say, surprisingly attractive. Even Sam Neill in the least likable role is quite memorable.

While all previous Campion films had intriguing characters and interesting direction, this is by far the most well-crafted one of the bunch. It’s absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful and the theme of female emancipation is executed perfectly. I really didn’t expect to have such strong opinions about this film on re-watch and to love it as much as I did.

I can’t wait for next edition’s The Portrait of a Lady, being a sucker for pre-botox Nicole Kidman. But until then, let me know what you thought about The Piano.