Writer and Director – Jane Campion
Producer – Jan Chapman
Cinematography – Stuart Dryburgh
Music – Michael Nyman
Stars – Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin, Harvey Keitel and Sam Neill
Storyline – When an arranged marriage brings Ada (Holly Hunter) and her spirited daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) to the wilderness of nineteenth century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband Stewart (Sam Neill) and a rugged frontiersman called Baines (Harvey Keitel) with whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Ada has not spoken since she was 6 years old and nobody knows why. Instead, Ada communicates with the world through her piano and by sign language, interpreted by her daughter Flora. Stewart cares little for his new bride and when the Maori tribesmen refuse to carry the heavy piano to the house, it is unloaded from the boat and left on the beach. Ada is then forced to go to the beach whenever she wants to play her piano.
The Piano premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 1993, where it won the Palme d'Or, rendering Campion the first female director to achieve that distinction. It was a commercial success, grossing US$140.2 million worldwide against its US$7 million budget.
The Piano earned numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards; for Hunter as Best Actress, Paquin as Best Supporting Actress and Campion for Best Original Screenplay, a WGA Award, a Golden Globe Award, three BAFTA Awards, and eleven Australian Film Institute Awards.
The original score for the film was by the British composer Michael Nyman and was performed by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Michael Nyman and consisted of twenty pieces ranging from 1 minute to almost 6 minutes. Nyman’s score is vital to the success of the film, an essential feature that guides the audience through Ada’s emotional journey and acts as the voice we cannot hear due to her muteness. Although Michael Nyman was nominated for numerous awards for The Piano, he lost the Golden Globe Award to Kitaro’s score for Heaven and Earth and lost the BAFTA Award to Schindler’s List however, the soundtrack album became and remains one of the best-selling “classical crossover” albums in musical history.