"The Piano" plays itself with such contrapuntal richness, it resonates in you forever. Set in 19th-century New Zealand, this saga of will, destiny and passion starring Holly Hunter is an extraordinary symphony of sounds and silence, of lilting pleasure and tangled horror.There's something mystically compelling about writer/director Jane Campion's 1993 Cannes winner. On one level, it's a fairy tale for adults. But on others, it evokes powerful eroticism, sexual mustiness, emotional anguish and numerous other themes.Ada (Hunter), a severe-expressioned, handsome woman, has just arrived in New Zealand with 9-year-old, illegitimate daughter Flora (Anna Paquin), luggage and her precious piano in tow. By arrangement, she is to marry Stewart (Sam Neill), a genial, tight-lipped landowner. We know almost immediately that Ada is voluntarily mute. She has chosen not to speak -- as Ada tells us in her "mind's voice" narration -- since the age of 6. She communicates by writing notes (on paper taken from a wallet-sized locket around her neck) or, with her daughter, by signing. The piano -- which Stewart and his Maori helpers balk at moving -- is her voice and identity.When Stewart refuses to accept the piano, he sets off a protracted war of wills, jealousy and passion. Illiterate Scottish neighbor Baines (Harvey Keitel), touched when he hears Ada play the instrument on the beach, offers land for the piano -- with lessons from Ada. To Ada's horror, Stewart agrees.Baines's designs, it turns out, are less than musically appreciative. He merely orders her to perform, while he does "certain things" in the ominous background. He bargains further: With each of these bizarre sessions representing one black key, she can earn back the piano. Before the ultimate repossession, however, the emotional climate between them changes.
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