‘The Piano’ is a delicate,dark and challenging film. This sumptuous directorial achievement by Jane Campion, set in the mid-19th century’s New Zealand , is a precious and exotic cinematic experience. The universe of ‘The Piano’ is bleak,cloudy,muddy and hauntingly beautiful and soulfully tempestuous. The characters possess penetrating depth and passion so primordial that they bewitch us subtly all through the end.
What makes ‘The Piano’ so riveting is its color palettes. The passionate blue, covetous green, shimmering golden,mournful grey and medieval black florescence on the screen. The music by Michael Nyman is seraphic,moody,hopeful and crepuscular. Holly Hunter as Ada McGrath is a distinction in the history of cinema. While Harvey Keitel as George Baines and Anna Paquin as Flora McGrath reign on the screens, Sam Neill’s performance as Ada’s husband is more complex,evolving and perfectly played-down.
Gothic in its eroticism, unspeakable in its realm of expressive juxtaposing emotions, restrained in its lust, ‘The Piano’ is a film of startling intensity and uttermost intricacy. It’s a film to be drowned!
“There is a silence where hath been no sound,
There is a silence where no sound may be,
In the cold grave—under the deep deep sea,
Or in the wide desert where no life is found,
Which hath been mute, and still must sleep profound
… … …
Shriek to the echo, and the low winds moan,
There the true Silence is, self-conscious and alone.”
The true Silence is, self-conscious and alone.
[ Review by Sabbir Parvez Shohan
The Piano 1993
Cinema Stalker 