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The Piano
Film (Trailer and Excerpts) – 1993
Ada (Holly Hunter) has been mute since she was six. She travels from Scotland with her daughter (Anna Paquin) and her grand piano to colonial New Zealand, for an arranged marriage. After her husband, a stoic settler (Sam Neill), sells the piano to Baines (Harvey Keitel), Ada and Baines come to a secret agreement. She can win her piano back key by key by playing for him, as he acts out his desire for her. A major hit in Europe, Jane Campion's dark drama is the only Kiwi film to have taken the top award at the Cannes Film Festival. Hunter and Paquin won Oscars, as did the script.
Warning: the third excerpt contains violence.
[Jane Campion] takes the breath away not by conventionally spectacular effects, but by the simple audacity of her choices about where to put the camera and what to show.– Critic Vincent Canby in The New York Times, 16 October 1993
Key Cast & Crew
See all 36 credits
Produced by
Jan Chapman Productions
Acknowledgements
Produced with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission, & the New South Wales Film and Television Office
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Marae - The Piano Story
Behind the scenes on The Piano
The Edge - Holly Hunter interview
Holly Hunter briefly discusses her role in the film
The Edge - Jane Campion interview
Jane Campion interviewed in 1993
The Heart Dances - The Journey of The Piano: the Ballet
Trailer of a ballet adaptation of The Piano
The Power of the Dog
Another Jane Campion feature shot in New Zealand
Peel
Another Cannes winner directed by Jane Campion
Ashkenazy in Concert
A performance by a famous pianist
Mesmerized
Jodie Foster plays a woman in an arranged marriage
Closer
A short film featuring a deaf teenage boy
New Zealand Centenary of Cinema - Greg Page
This short film pays tribute to The Piano
Under the Covers - Episode Three
More on the novel that some say helped inspire The Piano
An Angel at My Table
Also directed by Jane Campion
Winners & Losers: The Woman at the Store
Another dark tale of NZ colonial life
Cinema of Unease - A Personal Journey by Sam Neill
Sam Neill's take on the history of NZ film
An Immigrant Nation - Hoots Mon, The Scots in New Zealand
Documentary about Scottish immigrants
The Luminaries (promo)
Another moody period drama
Careful with that Axe
Another infamous encounter with an axe
The Grass is Greener - Sam Neill
Documentary about Sam Neill's Australian acting career
Topless Women Talk about Their Lives
Includes Germans visiting Karekare seeking Piano scenery
The Grass is Greener - Jane Campion
Early interview with director Jane Campion
Savage Play - Full Series
Another problematic 19th century relationship
Taua - War Party
More portage in the Waitakere mud
The Leading Edge
Stuart Dryburgh also shot this
Do No Harm
Another mother and daughter tale
Passionless Moments
A Cannes-selected short film directed by Jane Campion
The Living Room - Series One, Episode Eight
Featuring cameraman Alun Bollinger
The Wall
Short film from Piano casting director Diana Rowan
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
Another film about imprisoned desire
The Life and Times of Te Tutu - Series One
Another beach arrival
Perfect Strangers
Sam Neill also stars in this
One Network News - 2004 Cannes Film Festival
More films that nabbed funding in Europe
In Passing
Another drama featuring Karekare beach
Dream Catchers - Full Series
Production designer Andrew McAlpine appears in episode 7
The Moon is Upside Down
Another drama with a mail order bride