Cinema
The Piano
Jane Campion · 1993
Synopsis
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Ada McGrath, a Scotswoman who has not spoken since the age of six, lands on a beach in New Zealand with her daughter, Flora, and her piano, to join a settler, Alisdair Stewart, whom she has married without ever having seen him. Stewart refuses to carry the instrument. His neighbour, George Baines, a former sailor close to the Maori, obtains it in exchange for a piece of land, then proposes that Ada buy it back from him key by key, in exchange for favours.
Context
Produced by the Australian Jan Chapman and financed by the French company CiBy 2000, the film was shot in twelve weeks, in 1992, on the North Island, in particular on Karekare beach, west of Auckland. On a budget of 7 million US dollars, it earned about 140 million worldwide. Presented at Cannes in May 1993, it won Holly Hunter the prize for best actress; the music is by Michael Nyman.
Who it is for
A film in English of about two hours, whose heroine does not speak and expresses herself through her instrument.
Prizes and reception
Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1993, shared with a Chinese film, the first awarded to a woman; three Oscars and, according to Australian Screen, eleven AFI awards.