As the writer and director of this masterpiece, Campion exhibits amazing talent with melodrama, allowing a tumultuous emotional scale to come out of silences and intelligent body language instead of trying to force Oscar speeches out (which probably aided Hunter and Paquin in winning). The dialogue is sparse yet distinct, the actors are so brilliant you almost forget you aren’t watching someone’s home movies (except that nobody would want this kind of stuff on tape of their family), and even the music is able to set a specific perfect pitch without being heavy handed.
The Plot
Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) is sent to New Zealand with her daughter to live with a stranger. Her father has arranged for her to marry Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill) as her husband has passed away. Ada hasn’t spoken since she was six, though no excuse is given as to why. The first scene takes place as they are preparing to leave their home and Ada’s voice-over explains how she uses her piano to express herself. Her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) speaks quite well and they use sign language to communicate. Only when Ada is exasperated does she write on a tiny pad that she keeps around her neck.
They arrive on a barren shore beach and Alisdair has yet to pick them up. When he finally does, he instructs the natives who are laughing about him to take everything but the piano. Ada tries to put up a fight about this but the piano is left on the shore because there is too much cargo already to handle. Shortly after getting settled in their new surroundings, Ada and her daughter visit one of the men whom they saw assisting with the packages, George Baines (Harvey Keitel), who lives close by. They stare him down imploringly before he gives in and takes them to the beach.
At the beach George witnesses such beauty in Ada’s passion as she plays the piano for the course of an entire afternoon that he swaps land he owns with Alisdair for the chance to bring the piano back and possibly get lessons. As Ada starts visiting, George’s attraction becomes more apparent and he begins to bargain parts of the piano in exchange for what most would consider perverted pleasures of the flesh. There is eventually an affair between the two, and meanwhile, Ada’s marriage still has not been consummated.
