The Piano

4.75
    The Piano
    1993

    Synopsis

    A mute Scottish woman arrives in colonial New Zealand for an arranged marriage. Her husband refuses to move her beloved piano, giving it to neighbor George Baines, who agrees to return the piano in exchange for lessons. As desire swirls around the duo, the wilderness consumes the European enclave.

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    Cast

    • Holly HunterAda McGrath
    • Harvey KeitelGeorge Baines
    • Sam NeillAlisdair Stewart
    • Anna PaquinFlora McGrath
    • Cliff CurtisMana
    • Kerry WalkerAunt Morag
    • Ian MuneReverend
    • Geneviève LemonNessie
    • Pete SmithHone
    • Bruce AllpressBlind Piano Tuner

    Recommendations

    • 100

      USA Today

      Campion's script is very well received, but the film finally makes it on cinematics: bleakly beautiful photography, haunting score, and good acting. [12 Nov 1993]
    • 100

      The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

      Great art is both immediately accessible and eternally elusive, having at its centre a powerful simplicity that speaks to anyone who cares to listen, that rewards every interpretation while embracing none. The Piano is great art.
    • 100

      Washington Post

      The Piano plays itself with such contrapuntal richness, it resonates in you forever.
    • 100

      Chicago Sun-Times

      It is one of those rare movies that is not just about a story, or some characters, but about a whole universe of feeling.
    • 100

      Chicago Tribune

      In Jan Campion's The Piano, the emotions are deep, fierce, primordial. Sexuality overwhelms the film's characters like ocean waves blasting against a cliffside. [19 Nov 1993]
    • 90

      Time

      Campion has spun a fable as potently romantic as a Bronte tale. But The Piano is also deeply cinematic. [22 Nov 1993]
    • 90

      Los Angeles Times

      It takes exceptional acting to enable a story like this to take hold, and Campion has gotten it here. [19 Nov 1993]
    • 89

      Austin Chronicle

      The wonder of The Piano is that such an outwardly simple story could emerge into such a complex swirl of lingering memories.

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