Search - The Piano on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children Movie Release: 1993 DVD Release: 01/20/1998 Format: DVD - P&SE,Soft-Matted WSE for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 1 mins Studio: Live/Artisan Members Wishing: 36 Genres: Drama, Romantic Drama, Period Film, Feminist Film See Also: The Piano [Blu-ray]

Writer/director Jane Campion's third feature unearthed emotional undercurrents and churning intensity in the story of a mute woman's rebellion in the recently colonized New Zealand wilderness of Victorian times. Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), a mute who has willed herself not to speak, and her strong-willed young daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) find themselves in the New Zealand wilderness, with Ada the imported bride of dullard land-grabber Stewart (Sam Neill). Ada immediately takes a dislike to Stewart when he refuses to carry her beloved piano home with them. But Stewart makes a deal with his overseer George Baines (Harvey Keitel) to take the piano off his hands. Attracted to Ada, Baines agrees to return the piano in exchange for a series of piano lessons that become a series of increasingly charged sexual encounters. As pent-up emotions of rage and desire swirl around all three characters, the savage wilderness begins to consume the tiny European enclave. Campion imbues her tale with an over-ripe tactility and a murky, poetic undertow that betray the characters' confined yet overpowering emotions: Ada's buried sensuality, Baines' hidden tenderness, and Stewart's suppressed anger and violence. The story unfolds like a Greek tragedy of the Outback, complete with a Greek chorus of Maori tribesmen and a blithely uncaring natural environment that envelops the characters like an additional player. Campion directs with discreet detachment, observing one character through the glances and squints of another as they peer through wooden slats, airy curtains, and the spaces between a character's fingers. She makes the film immediate and urgent by implicating the audience in characters' gazes. And she guides Hunter to a revelatory performance of silent film majesty. Relying on expressive glances and using body language to convey her soulful depths, Hunter became a modern Lillian Gish and won an Oscar for her performance, as did Paquin and Campion for her screenplay. Campion achieved something rare in contemporary cinema: a poetry of expression told in the form of an off-center melodrama. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Holly Hunter - Ada McGrath
Harvey Keitel - George Baines
Sam Neill - Stewart
Anna Paquin - Flora McGrath
Kerry Walker - Aunt Morag

Jane Campion's multiple award-winning film The Piano comes to DVD with a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. There are no subtitles, but the soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include production notes, information on the cast and crew, and the theatrical trailer. This disc is a little disappointing, but Artisan's low list price makes it worthwhile. Hopefully Artisan will one day give this great film the same attention it lavished on =The Blair Witch Project. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide