April 13th: THE PIANO (Jane Campion, 1993)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
In the mid 1800s, a mute woman arrives in the frontier of New Zealand with her young daughter as part of an arranged marriage and struggles to retrieve a piano taken from her.
Writer-director Jane Campion originally studied anthropology in her native New Zealand, then moved to Australia and earned a degree in painting, followed by enrolling in the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School. Her short film Peel won the top award in its category at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986, and she returned there with her debut theatrical feature Sweetie, then took her follow-up An Angel At My Table to the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Special Jury Prize.
For her third film, Campion was inspired by Gothic Romance novels, particularly the work of Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), as well as the tribal Maori culture of New Zealand. She also sought to explore eroticism and the place of women during the repressive Victorian era. To restrict the narrative even further, Campion elected to make her main character mute.
After talking to several prominent actresses, Campion offered the role to Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona, Broadcast News) whose distinctive Georgia drawl wouldn't come into play with an absence of dialogue. Her co-star Anna Paquin (born in Canada of New Zealand heritage) was selected from over 5,000 girls and made her on-screen debut. They're joined by Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Martin Scorsese veteran Harvey Keitel (Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction).
Campion enlisted the help of British composer Michael Nyman, known to this point for his work with eccentric filmmaker Peter Greenaway. Because Hunter's character Ada would be playing original music on camera, the score was written in advance. Campion provided a good deal of extratextual information in order for Nyman to create the musical representation of Ada's interior world. In addition to the various piano pieces, Nyman also composed a more traditional orchestral score.
The film was shot completely in New Zealand, in its largest city Auckland as well as more rural areas. Behind the camera was cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, who had just worked with Campion on her previous film. Having learned piano from a young age, Hunter performed Nyman's pieces herself, and also worked with a sign language expert to create unique hand signals for a time period before they were standardized, which she then taught to Paquin.
The Piano premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the first place Palme d'Or award (Campion still the only female director to have won) as well as Best Actress, honors Hunter also received from every major critics group. Despite competing with the juggernaut of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, Campion was named Best Director by the Los Angeles and New York critics. The film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and Oscars went to Hunter, Paquin, and Campion for her screenplay.
Running time is 2 hours.
In the mid 1800s, a mute woman arrives in the frontier of New Zealand with her young daughter as part of an arranged marriage and struggles to retrieve a piano taken from her.
Writer-director Jane Campion originally studied anthropology in her native New Zealand, then moved to Australia and earned a degree in painting, followed by enrolling in the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School. Her short film Peel won the top award in its category at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986, and she returned there with her debut theatrical feature Sweetie, then took her follow-up An Angel At My Table to the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Special Jury Prize.
For her third film, Campion was inspired by Gothic Romance novels, particularly the work of Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), as well as the tribal Maori culture of New Zealand. She also sought to explore eroticism and the place of women during the repressive Victorian era. To restrict the narrative even further, Campion elected to make her main character mute.
After talking to several prominent actresses, Campion offered the role to Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona, Broadcast News) whose distinctive Georgia drawl wouldn't come into play with an absence of dialogue. Her co-star Anna Paquin (born in Canada of New Zealand heritage) was selected from over 5,000 girls and made her on-screen debut. They're joined by Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Martin Scorsese veteran Harvey Keitel (Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction).
Campion enlisted the help of British composer Michael Nyman, known to this point for his work with eccentric filmmaker Peter Greenaway. Because Hunter's character Ada would be playing original music on camera, the score was written in advance. Campion provided a good deal of extratextual information in order for Nyman to create the musical representation of Ada's interior world. In addition to the various piano pieces, Nyman also composed a more traditional orchestral score.
The film was shot completely in New Zealand, in its largest city Auckland as well as more rural areas. Behind the camera was cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, who had just worked with Campion on her previous film. Having learned piano from a young age, Hunter performed Nyman's pieces herself, and also worked with a sign language expert to create unique hand signals for a time period before they were standardized, which she then taught to Paquin.
The Piano premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the first place Palme d'Or award (Campion still the only female director to have won) as well as Best Actress, honors Hunter also received from every major critics group. Despite competing with the juggernaut of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, Campion was named Best Director by the Los Angeles and New York critics. The film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and Oscars went to Hunter, Paquin, and Campion for her screenplay.
Running time is 2 hours.
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